"unreliable narrator" meaning in English

See unreliable narrator in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /(ˌ)ʌnɹɪˌlaɪəbl nəˈɹeɪtə/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌʌnɹəˌlaɪəb(ə)l ˈnɛˌɹeɪtɚ/ [General-American], /-ɹətɚ/ [General-American], /-nəˈɹeɪtɚ/ [General-American], [-ɾɚ] [General-American] Forms: unreliable narrators [plural]
Rhymes: (one pronunciation) -eɪtə(ɹ) Etymology: Apparently coined by the U.S. literary critic Wayne Clayson Booth (1921–2005) in The Rhetoric of Fiction (1961): see the quotation. Etymology templates: {{coinage|en|Wayne Clayson Booth|nat=the U.S.|nobycat=1|nocap=1|occ=literary critic|w=Wayne C. Booth}} coined by the U.S. literary critic Wayne Clayson Booth Head templates: {{en-noun}} unreliable narrator (plural unreliable narrators)
  1. (literary theory) A narrating character or storyteller in a literary or other artistic work (such as a film, novel, play, or song) who provides conflicting, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise questionable information to the audience or reader. Wikipedia link: University of Chicago Press Categories (topical): Literature Translations (narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader): անվստահելի պատմիչ (anvstaheli patmičʻ) (Armenian), etibarsız hekayəçi (Azerbaijani), etibarsız rəvayətçi (Azerbaijani), 不可靠的敘事者 (Chinese Mandarin), 不可靠的叙事者 (bùkěkàodexùshìzhě) (Chinese Mandarin), onbetrouwbare verteller [masculine] (Dutch), onbetrouwbare vertelster [feminine] (Dutch), epäluotettava kertoja (Finnish), narrateur douteux [masculine] (French), narratrice douteuse [feminine] (French), narrateur incertain [masculine] (French), narratrice incertaine [feminine] (French), narrateur non fiable [masculine] (French), narratrice non fiable [feminine] (French), unzuverlässiger Erzähler [masculine] (German), unzuverlässige Erzählerin [feminine] (German), αναξιόπιστος αφηγητής (anaxiópistos afigitís) [masculine] (Greek), pengisah lancung (Indonesian), narratore inaffidabile [masculine] (Italian), narratrice inaffidabile [feminine] (Italian), 信頼できない語り手 (shin rai dekinai ka tarite) (alt: しんらいできないかたりて) (Japanese), 믿을 수 없는 화자 (mideul su eomneun hwaja) (Korean), неси́гурен раска́жувач (nesíguren raskážuvač) [masculine] (Macedonian), неси́гурна раскажу́вачка (nesígurna raskažúvačka) [feminine] (Macedonian), but see nieufny narrator [masculine] (Polish), narrador não-confiável [masculine] (Portuguese), narradora não-confiável [feminine] (Portuguese), ненадёжный расска́зчик (nenadjóžnyj rasskázčik) [masculine] (Russian), ненадёжный расска́зчица (nenadjóžnyj rasskázčica) [feminine] (Russian), narrador sospechoso [masculine] (Spanish), narradora sospechoso [feminine] (Spanish), ผู้บรรยายเรื่องผู้ไม่น่าเชื่อถือ (Thai), güvenilmez anlatıcı (Turkish)

Inflected forms

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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: omniscient narrator"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1961, Wayne C[layson] Booth, “Types of Narration”, in The Rhetoric of Fiction, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, published 1968, →OCLC, part I (Artistic Purity and the Rhetoric of Fiction), pages 158 and 159:",
          "text": "[page 158] For practical criticism probably the most important of these kinds of distance is that between the fallible or unreliable narrator and the implied author who carries the reader with him in judging the narrator. […] [page 159] Unreliable narrators thus differ markedly depending on how far and in what direction they depart from the author's norms; […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1969 September, Charles A. Watkins, “Chaucer’s Sweete Preest”, in Earl R. Wasserman et al., editors, ELH [English Literary History], volume 36, number 3, Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins Press, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 463:",
          "text": "The Priest also places a moral barrier between himself and his tale by establishing himself as an \"unreliable narrator\" capable of deception and irony. Thus, through his habit of speaking equivocally, he can disavow responsibility for his frequently provocative words.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, “Afterword”, in William Gilmore Simms, edited by John Caldwell Guilds, Helen Halsey or The Swamp State of Conelachita: A Tale of the Borders (Selected Fiction of William Gilmore Simms), Arkansas edition, Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, →ISBN, page 137:",
          "text": "As a young and inexperienced observer, Meadows represents the unreliable narrator whose views are sometimes wrong; but he learns from his mistakes and grows in perceptiveness and wisdom as the novel progresses.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Robert Fulford, “The Cracked Mirror of Modernity”, in The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture (CBC Massey Lectures), Toronto, Ont.: House of Anansi Press, →ISBN, page 97:",
          "text": "The unreliable narrator demonstrates how the spirit of the times colours the work of storytellers, and how they in turn help to shape that spirit. We can find unreliable narrators in the books of Agatha Christie and William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov and Mordecai Richler – and hundreds of other writers. It's one of the emblematic literary devices of the century.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000 April 17, Richard Corliss, “A Yuppie’s Killer Instinct [review of American Psycho]”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-11-22:",
          "text": "[…] Patrick, for all his brutal truth telling, is an unreliable narrator. You see, he is mad—so mad, he probably committed the murders in his head. Which still makes him one sick yuppie.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 September 16, Terrence Rafferty, “Cantabrigian psycho [review of Engleby]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-16:",
          "text": "[F]or the rest of the book [Sebastian] Faulks gets to indulge in the unreliable-narrator game of cunning ellipses and selective, gradual revelation.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Judy Doenges, “The Truthless Narrator”, in Andrea Barrett, Peter Turchi, editors, A Kite in the Wind: Fiction Writers on Their Craft, San Antonio, Tex.: Trinity University Press, →ISBN, page 44:",
          "text": "Simply put, an unreliable narrator is one whose version of events runs counter to the story's true actions and to readers' interpretation of those events. Unreliable narrators are connivers, lunatics, and innocents, but what they all have in common is their unreliability as storytellers, their rejection or ignorance of the truth. Unreliable narrators equivocate, lie, fib, avoid, defend, divert, create decoys, flee, impersonate, change costumes, remake themselves and their origins, and distort the other characters' actions and intentions, breaking the rules in order to ensure readers' sympathy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 September 16, Sarah Maria Griffin, “Neurocracy: Futuristic Murder-mystery Fiction as Told through Wikipedia”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Omnipedia is an unreliable narrator – we are encouraged to look at the edit logs of each wiki page, to see what information is new and what has been deleted.",
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      "glosses": [
        "A narrating character or storyteller in a literary or other artistic work (such as a film, novel, play, or song) who provides conflicting, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise questionable information to the audience or reader."
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          "narrating",
          "narrate"
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          "character",
          "character"
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          "storyteller",
          "storyteller"
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          "literary",
          "literary"
        ],
        [
          "artistic",
          "artistic#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "film",
          "film#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "novel",
          "novel#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "play",
          "play#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "song",
          "song"
        ],
        [
          "provide",
          "provide"
        ],
        [
          "conflicting",
          "conflicting#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "inaccurate",
          "inaccurate"
        ],
        [
          "misleading",
          "misleading#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "questionable",
          "questionable"
        ],
        [
          "information",
          "information"
        ],
        [
          "audience",
          "audience"
        ],
        [
          "reader",
          "reader"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "literary theory",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literary theory) A narrating character or storyteller in a literary or other artistic work (such as a film, novel, play, or song) who provides conflicting, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise questionable information to the audience or reader."
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "hy",
          "lang": "Armenian",
          "roman": "anvstaheli patmičʻ",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "անվստահելի պատմիչ"
        },
        {
          "code": "az",
          "lang": "Azerbaijani",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "etibarsız hekayəçi"
        },
        {
          "code": "az",
          "lang": "Azerbaijani",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "etibarsız rəvayətçi"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "不可靠的敘事者"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "bùkěkàodexùshìzhě",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "不可靠的叙事者"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "onbetrouwbare verteller"
        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "onbetrouwbare vertelster"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "epäluotettava kertoja"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "narrateur douteux"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "narratrice douteuse"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "narrateur incertain"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "narratrice incertaine"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "narrateur non fiable"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "narratrice non fiable"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "unzuverlässiger Erzähler"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "unzuverlässige Erzählerin"
        },
        {
          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "anaxiópistos afigitís",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "αναξιόπιστος αφηγητής"
        },
        {
          "code": "id",
          "lang": "Indonesian",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "pengisah lancung"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "narratore inaffidabile"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "narratrice inaffidabile"
        },
        {
          "alt": "しんらいできないかたりて",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "shin rai dekinai ka tarite",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "信頼できない語り手"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "roman": "mideul su eomneun hwaja",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "믿을 수 없는 화자"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "nesíguren raskážuvač",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "неси́гурен раска́жувач"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "nesígurna raskažúvačka",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "неси́гурна раскажу́вачка"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "note": "no equivalent term in Polish",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "but see nieufny narrator"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "narrador não-confiável"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "narradora não-confiável"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "nenadjóžnyj rasskázčik",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ненадёжный расска́зчик"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "nenadjóžnyj rasskázčica",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "ненадёжный расска́зчица"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "narrador sospechoso"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "narradora sospechoso"
        },
        {
          "code": "th",
          "lang": "Thai",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "ผู้บรรยายเรื่องผู้ไม่น่าเชื่อถือ"
        },
        {
          "code": "tr",
          "lang": "Turkish",
          "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
          "word": "güvenilmez anlatıcı"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "University of Chicago Press"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/(ˌ)ʌnɹɪˌlaɪəbl nəˈɹeɪtə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌʌnɹəˌlaɪəb(ə)l ˈnɛˌɹeɪtɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ɹətɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-nəˈɹeɪtɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[-ɾɚ]",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "(one pronunciation) -eɪtə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "unreliable narrator"
}
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  "etymology_text": "Apparently coined by the U.S. literary critic Wayne Clayson Booth (1921–2005) in The Rhetoric of Fiction (1961): see the quotation.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "unreliable narrators",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "unreliable narrator (plural unreliable narrators)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "un‧re‧li‧a‧ble"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coinages",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/eɪtə(ɹ)",
        "Rhymes:English/eɪtə(ɹ)/8 syllables",
        "Terms with Armenian translations",
        "Terms with Azerbaijani translations",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Greek translations",
        "Terms with Indonesian translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Japanese translations",
        "Terms with Korean translations",
        "Terms with Macedonian translations",
        "Terms with Mandarin translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Thai translations",
        "Terms with Turkish translations",
        "en:Literature"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: omniscient narrator"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1961, Wayne C[layson] Booth, “Types of Narration”, in The Rhetoric of Fiction, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, published 1968, →OCLC, part I (Artistic Purity and the Rhetoric of Fiction), pages 158 and 159:",
          "text": "[page 158] For practical criticism probably the most important of these kinds of distance is that between the fallible or unreliable narrator and the implied author who carries the reader with him in judging the narrator. […] [page 159] Unreliable narrators thus differ markedly depending on how far and in what direction they depart from the author's norms; […]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1969 September, Charles A. Watkins, “Chaucer’s Sweete Preest”, in Earl R. Wasserman et al., editors, ELH [English Literary History], volume 36, number 3, Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins Press, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 463:",
          "text": "The Priest also places a moral barrier between himself and his tale by establishing himself as an \"unreliable narrator\" capable of deception and irony. Thus, through his habit of speaking equivocally, he can disavow responsibility for his frequently provocative words.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, “Afterword”, in William Gilmore Simms, edited by John Caldwell Guilds, Helen Halsey or The Swamp State of Conelachita: A Tale of the Borders (Selected Fiction of William Gilmore Simms), Arkansas edition, Fayetteville, Ark.: University of Arkansas Press, →ISBN, page 137:",
          "text": "As a young and inexperienced observer, Meadows represents the unreliable narrator whose views are sometimes wrong; but he learns from his mistakes and grows in perceptiveness and wisdom as the novel progresses.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1999, Robert Fulford, “The Cracked Mirror of Modernity”, in The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture (CBC Massey Lectures), Toronto, Ont.: House of Anansi Press, →ISBN, page 97:",
          "text": "The unreliable narrator demonstrates how the spirit of the times colours the work of storytellers, and how they in turn help to shape that spirit. We can find unreliable narrators in the books of Agatha Christie and William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov and Mordecai Richler – and hundreds of other writers. It's one of the emblematic literary devices of the century.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2000 April 17, Richard Corliss, “A Yuppie’s Killer Instinct [review of American Psycho]”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-11-22:",
          "text": "[…] Patrick, for all his brutal truth telling, is an unreliable narrator. You see, he is mad—so mad, he probably committed the murders in his head. Which still makes him one sick yuppie.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007 September 16, Terrence Rafferty, “Cantabrigian psycho [review of Engleby]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-06-16:",
          "text": "[F]or the rest of the book [Sebastian] Faulks gets to indulge in the unreliable-narrator game of cunning ellipses and selective, gradual revelation.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, Judy Doenges, “The Truthless Narrator”, in Andrea Barrett, Peter Turchi, editors, A Kite in the Wind: Fiction Writers on Their Craft, San Antonio, Tex.: Trinity University Press, →ISBN, page 44:",
          "text": "Simply put, an unreliable narrator is one whose version of events runs counter to the story's true actions and to readers' interpretation of those events. Unreliable narrators are connivers, lunatics, and innocents, but what they all have in common is their unreliability as storytellers, their rejection or ignorance of the truth. Unreliable narrators equivocate, lie, fib, avoid, defend, divert, create decoys, flee, impersonate, change costumes, remake themselves and their origins, and distort the other characters' actions and intentions, breaking the rules in order to ensure readers' sympathy.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 September 16, Sarah Maria Griffin, “Neurocracy: Futuristic Murder-mystery Fiction as Told through Wikipedia”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "Omnipedia is an unreliable narrator – we are encouraged to look at the edit logs of each wiki page, to see what information is new and what has been deleted.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A narrating character or storyteller in a literary or other artistic work (such as a film, novel, play, or song) who provides conflicting, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise questionable information to the audience or reader."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "narrating",
          "narrate"
        ],
        [
          "character",
          "character"
        ],
        [
          "storyteller",
          "storyteller"
        ],
        [
          "literary",
          "literary"
        ],
        [
          "artistic",
          "artistic#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "film",
          "film#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "novel",
          "novel#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "play",
          "play#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "song",
          "song"
        ],
        [
          "provide",
          "provide"
        ],
        [
          "conflicting",
          "conflicting#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "inaccurate",
          "inaccurate"
        ],
        [
          "misleading",
          "misleading#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "questionable",
          "questionable"
        ],
        [
          "information",
          "information"
        ],
        [
          "audience",
          "audience"
        ],
        [
          "reader",
          "reader"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "literary theory",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literary theory) A narrating character or storyteller in a literary or other artistic work (such as a film, novel, play, or song) who provides conflicting, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise questionable information to the audience or reader."
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "University of Chicago Press"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/(ˌ)ʌnɹɪˌlaɪəbl nəˈɹeɪtə/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌʌnɹəˌlaɪəb(ə)l ˈnɛˌɹeɪtɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-ɹətɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-nəˈɹeɪtɚ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[-ɾɚ]",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "(one pronunciation) -eɪtə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hy",
      "lang": "Armenian",
      "roman": "anvstaheli patmičʻ",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "անվստահելի պատմիչ"
    },
    {
      "code": "az",
      "lang": "Azerbaijani",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "etibarsız hekayəçi"
    },
    {
      "code": "az",
      "lang": "Azerbaijani",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "etibarsız rəvayətçi"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "不可靠的敘事者"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "bùkěkàodexùshìzhě",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "不可靠的叙事者"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "onbetrouwbare verteller"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "onbetrouwbare vertelster"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "epäluotettava kertoja"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "narrateur douteux"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "narratrice douteuse"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "narrateur incertain"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "narratrice incertaine"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "narrateur non fiable"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "narratrice non fiable"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "unzuverlässiger Erzähler"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "unzuverlässige Erzählerin"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "anaxiópistos afigitís",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "αναξιόπιστος αφηγητής"
    },
    {
      "code": "id",
      "lang": "Indonesian",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "pengisah lancung"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "narratore inaffidabile"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "narratrice inaffidabile"
    },
    {
      "alt": "しんらいできないかたりて",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "shin rai dekinai ka tarite",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "信頼できない語り手"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "roman": "mideul su eomneun hwaja",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "믿을 수 없는 화자"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "nesíguren raskážuvač",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "неси́гурен раска́жувач"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "nesígurna raskažúvačka",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "неси́гурна раскажу́вачка"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "note": "no equivalent term in Polish",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "but see nieufny narrator"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "narrador não-confiável"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "narradora não-confiável"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "nenadjóžnyj rasskázčik",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ненадёжный расска́зчик"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "nenadjóžnyj rasskázčica",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "ненадёжный расска́зчица"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "narrador sospechoso"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "narradora sospechoso"
    },
    {
      "code": "th",
      "lang": "Thai",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "ผู้บรรยายเรื่องผู้ไม่น่าเชื่อถือ"
    },
    {
      "code": "tr",
      "lang": "Turkish",
      "sense": "narrating character or storyteller who provides questionable information to the audience or reader",
      "word": "güvenilmez anlatıcı"
    }
  ],
  "word": "unreliable narrator"
}

Download raw JSONL data for unreliable narrator meaning in English (14.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.