commentary

English

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commentary

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle French commentaire, from Latin commentārius, commentārium (“notebook”), compare French commentaire. See comment.

Pronunciation

enPR: kŏm′ən-tə-rē, kŏm′ən-trē

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒm.ən.t(ə.)ɹi/ (Received Pronunciation, Canada)
• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔm.ən.t(ə.)ɹi/ (Standard Southern British, General Australian, New Zealand)

  • Audio (Southern England); [ˈkʰɔməntʃɹɪi̯]:

    (file)

enPR: kŏm′ən-târē

• enPR: kä′mən-tĕrē, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑ.mənˌtɛɹ.i/ (General American, father-bother merger, Mary–marry–merry merger)

enPR: kə-mĕn′trē, kə-mĕn′tə-rē

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /kŏm.ĕɳ.ʈ(ă.)ɾi/

Noun

commentary (countable and uncountable, plural commentaries)

1. A series of comments or annotations; especially, a book of explanations or expositions on the whole or a part of some other work.
   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England from the Accession of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

     This letter […] was published by him with a severe commentary.

2. (usually in the plural) A brief account of transactions or events written hastily, as if for a memorandum.

   Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War

3. An oral relation of an event, especially broadcast by television or radio, as it occurs.

   We listened to the football commentary while watching the match.

Synonyms

• (series of comments or annotations): scholia (ancient & medieval European works); secondary source

Derived terms

• anti-commentary
• audio commentary
• commentarial
• commentary box
• commentary track
• critical commentary
• DVD commentary
• metacommentary
• political commentary
• running commentary
• social commentary
• subcommentary
• supercommentary

Translations

A series of comments or annotations

Armenian: մեկնաբանություն (hy) (meknabanutʻyun) Basque: iruzkin, azalpen, zeresan Bulgarian: коментар (bg) m (komentar) Catalan: comentari (ca) m Esperanto: komentaro Finnish: kommentaari (fi) Galician: comentario (gl) m German: Kommentar (de) m Greek: σχόλια (el) n pl (schólia) Ancient: σχόλια n pl (skhólia), παρεκβολή f (parekbolḗ), ὑπόμνημα n (hupómnēma) Hebrew: פירוש (he) f (perúsh) Hindi: विवरण (hi) m (vivraṇ), व्याख्या (hi) f (vyākhyā), निर्वचन (hi) m (nirvacan) Hungarian: kommentár (hu) Indonesian: komentar (id), ulasan (id) Kazakh: түсініктеме (tüsınıkteme) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: şirove (ku) f, ravek (ku) f, ravekirin (ku) f, îzah (ku) f, şerh (ku) f, tefsîr (ku) f, ronkirin (ku) f, komentar (ku) f Latin: comentārium n, commentārium n Polish: komentarz (pl) m Portuguese: comentário (pt) m Russian: коммента́рий (ru) m (kommentárij), аннота́ция (ru) f (annotácija) Scottish Gaelic: iomradh m Spanish: comentario (es) m Telugu: వ్యాఖ్యానము (te) (vyākhyānamu)

A brief account of transactions or events written hastily

Bulgarian: репортаж (bg) m (reportaž) Catalan: comentari (ca) m Finnish: kommentaari (fi) Hebrew: הערות f pl (hearót) Scottish Gaelic: iomradh m

An oral description of an event, especially broadcast by television or radio, as it occurs

Dutch: commentaar (nl) n, voice-over (nl) m Finnish: selostus (fi) Greek: σχολιασμός (el) m (scholiasmós) Hebrew: דיווח m (divúakh) Hindi: व्याख्या (hi) f (vyākhyā) Marathi: कॉमेंटरी f (kŏmeṇṭrī) Russian: репорта́ж (ru) m (reportáž) Spanish: comentarios (es) m pl, comentarismo m Telugu: వ్యాఖ్యానము (te) (vyākhyānamu)

Further reading

• “commentary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.