Meaning of commentary in English

commentary

noun

/ˈkɒm.ən.tər.i/ us

/ˈkɑː.mən.ter.i/

a spoken description of an event on the radio or television that is broadcast as the event happens, or the action of providing this description:

commentary on The commentary on the Olympic Games was much better on the other channel.

After retiring as a player she did football commentary for the BBC.

Related word

commentate

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

something you say or write that expresses an opinion

commentThe MP could not be reached for comment.
remarkHis controversial remarks about race were widely reported.
statementIn a statement released earlier today, the team denied allegations of cheating.
declarationThe sovereign made a formal declaration of war.
observationShe makes some interesting observations about human nature in her book.
commentaryI love that sports announcer's commentary - it's always so funny!

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running commentary

a continuous description of events as they are happening:

He gave a hilarious running commentary of the match.

[ C or U ]

writing, art, etc. that explains a situation or expresses an opinion on it, or the opinions that it expresses:

There's good arts coverage in the newspaper, but not much political commentary.

commentary on Is the sculpture meant to be a commentary on religion?

social commentary She says that social commentary has become unfashionable among young playwrights.

Synonym

comment

[ C usually singular ]

something that shows what something is really like:

commentary on Is it possible that our judgment of others is really a commentary on how deserving we feel ourselves?

sad commentary It is a sad commentary on our society that we have children locked up in adult jails.

It's a sad commentary when technology that is supposed to bring people together causes so much division.

Synonym

comment

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Remarks & remarking

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Broadcasting: programmes & other broadcasts

Revealing secrets & becoming known

Grammar

Commentaries

Commentaries are reports on events such as a public ceremony or a football match. They are usually spoken while the events are being viewed. We use both the present simple and the present continuous. The present simple is used to make the commentary sound more immediate: …

(Definition of commentary from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

commentary | American Dictionary

commentary

noun [ C/U ]

/ˈkɑm·ənˌter·i/

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a series of remarks describing an event, esp. on radio or television, or a set of written notes explaining or expressing an opinion on a text or subject:

[ C ] the television commentary on the Olympic Games

(Definition of commentary from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of commentary

commentary

Most of these texts have given rise to a number of commentaries.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

He must start with the explanations and commentaries which his informants themselves offer about their symbols.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They made his writings part of their educational training and published inexpensive commentaries, collections, and anthologies.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

One of the burning questions in commentaries and discussions: did it walk erect?

From the Cambridge English Corpus

I am grateful to each of the discussants for their commentaries, and especially for pointing me in new directions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Given that the commentaries have largely focused on different issues, we have decided to treat them separately, making the links where appropriate.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Perhaps the most outspoken point of criticism brought up in the commentaries is that of the lack of explanatory force of the biographical approach.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

On each page four biblical texts and four commentaries were placed either side of eight richly illustrated pictures in medallions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Here the critical commentaries are particularly useful, detailing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and how the results may relate to field conditions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Before this research is to proceed, however, we need to disambiguate the conflation of emotion concepts with pragmatic scripts seen in some of the commentaries.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the commentaries, a large number of issues have been raised, and it would take another article to deal with all of them in detail.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In their commentaries, our colleagues of course do not only provide support for our model, but they also express different opinions about our modeling enterprise.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

There are also valuable commentaries on the condition of the source(s) and the history of each work.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In this reply, we address both matters as they pertain to the issues raised in the commentaries.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The lead paper in this short book occupies roughly one-third of the total: the remainder consists of commentaries.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.