# commentator

Pronunciation: US say "KOM-uhn-tay-tur" /ˈkɑmənˌteɪtəɹ/; UK say "KOM-uhn-tay-tuh" /ˈkɒmənˌteɪtə/

## Noun

1. A person who gives a live, running description of a public event (especially a sporting match) for a mass-media audience.
   - Simple: Someone who describes a game or event out loud as it happens, for people watching or listening.
   - _The commentator called the final lap with rising excitement._
   - _Veteran soccer commentators can read a play before it fully unfolds._
2. Someone who explains current events or expresses opinions about them, especially to a mass media audience.
   - Simple: Someone who shares their thoughts and views about news and current events.
   - _A respected commentator weighed in on the new economic policy._
   - _Cable news relies on commentators to interpret each day's headlines._
3. A person who makes a commentary (a set of explanatory or interpretive remarks) on some subject.
   - Simple: Someone who gives spoken or written remarks that explain something.
   - _Each commentator brought a different perspective to the discussion._
   - _The book collects essays from leading commentators of the era._
4. Someone who produces a set of explanatory and critical notes to accompany a text.
   - Simple: Someone who writes notes that explain and discuss a piece of writing.
   - _The commentator traced every allusion in the ancient manuscript._
   - _Generations of commentators have disputed the meaning of that passage._
5. An author or compiler of explanatory notes on parts of the Bible.
   - Simple: Someone who writes notes that explain parts of the Bible.
   - _The commentator devoted a whole volume to the Book of Psalms._
   - _Early Christian commentators often read the text allegorically._
6. A person who compiles explanations of the law: specifically, in historical use, the relatively innovative European jurists of the 14th century who went beyond the earlier glossators.
   - Simple: Someone who writes notes that explain what the law means.
   - _The commentator adapted Roman law to the commercial disputes of his own city._
   - _Fourteenth-century commentators reshaped how courts applied inherited legal texts._

## Noun

7. A writer who compiles an annotated history; a historian or chronicler. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Someone who writes a history of past events, with added notes.
   - _The commentator set down the city's founding in meticulous detail._
   - _Ancient commentators preserved events that would otherwise have been lost._

## Origin

In form it comes through Middle English commentator from Latin commentātor ("author, inventor, interpreter"), built from commentārī ("to ponder, to study, to write upon"), which itself derives from comminīscor ("to think over, to invent"). In meaning, it was influenced by the English words comment and commentary.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/commentator (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).