COMMENTARY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Commentary

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/kˈɑməntˌɛri/ Listen

noun

Commentary n. (pl. commentaries)

A series of comments or annotations; esp., a book of explanations or expositions on the whole or a part of the Scriptures or of some other work. "This letter... was published by him with a severe commentary."

A brief account of transactions or events written hastily, as if for a memorandum; usually in the plural; as, Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War.

A single essay, written or spoken, discussing or explaining a topic, especially regarding a recent event; as, the election report was followed by several commentaries from political analysts.

Something considered as exemplifying or ilustrating a point or opinion; as, the California recall vote is a sad commentary on the frivolous approach of people to politics.

See images of 'Commentary'

Etymology of 'Commentary'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Commentary" Quotes from Famous Books

... pathos about this story which has made it live during all these years. Through every line of it runs a commentary upon the barbarous customs of the time, which made such a situation possible, and its climax was so inevitable and so necessary, according to all the laws of nature, that we of a later day are inclined to shed a sympathetic tear and ...

— Women of the Romance Countries • John R. Effinger

... be above question) has, however, thrown some new and clear light upon the matter. Before laying it before the public it would be as well, perhaps, that I should refresh their memories as to the singular facts upon which this commentary is founded. These facts were briefly ...

— Tales of Terror and Mystery • Arthur Conan Doyle

... new discovery, every movement in the life of men, every intellectual and spiritual awakening which serves to make manifest the glory of Christ as Creator, or Revealer, or Redeemer, is a fresh fulfilment of His promise concerning the guiding Spirit of truth. Perhaps our best commentary is the history of the Church. In the New Testament itself we have the first-fruits of the Spirit's work. There we may see, in Gospels and Epistles, how the Spirit took of the things of Christ and showed them unto His disciples. And all through the varied history of the ...

— The Teaching of Jesus • George Jackson

... come to the attitude of 1850, when Mr. Phillipps had written: "An opinion has been gaining ground, and has been encouraged by writers whose judgment is entitled to respectful consideration, that almost if not all the commentary on the works of Shakspere of a necessary and desirable kind has already been given to the world."[1] And, indeed, so much need was there for time to digest the new criticism that it may be doubted whether among the general ...

— Montaigne and Shakspere • John M. Robertson

... of a process he had often witnessed among his sea-sick passengers, by way of showing his loathing of cannibalism in general, and of eating this Arab in particular. By this time the man was thoroughly alarmed, and by way of commentary on the captain's eloquence, he began to utter wailings in his own language, and groans that were not to be mistaken. To own the truth, Mr. Truck was a good deal mortified with this failure, which, like all other unsuccessful persons, he was ready to ascribe ...

— Homeward Bound - or, The Chase • James Fenimore Cooper

More quotes...