Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Commentary |
CommentaryNoun1. A written explanation or criticism or illustration that is added to a book or other textual material; "he wrote an extended comment on the proposal". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "commentary" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Etymology: Commentary \Com"men*ta*ry\, noun; plural Commentaries. [Latin expression commentarius, commentarium, note book, commentary: compare to the French expression commentaire. See Comment, intransitive verb.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Law | Report prepared for the board of directors, for companies which must be audited by particularly qualified auditors, wherein the auditors comment on the conducting and the result of their examination. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonym: CommentarySynonym: comment (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Dissertation | Commentary, review, critique, criticism, article; leader, leading article; editorial; running commentary. |
Interpretation | Exegesis; expounding, exposition; hermeneutics; comment, commentary; inference; (deduction); illustration, exemplification; gloss, annotation, scholium, note; elucidation, dilucidation; eclaircissement, mot d'enigme. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Commentary |
| English words defined with "commentary": Aristarchus ♦ Commentaries, commentate ♦ Gemara ♦ narrate, newsreel ♦ on it, on that ♦ Postil ♦ Rogers ♦ thereon ♦ Will Rogers, William Penn Adair Rogers. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "commentary": Abesta, Abracadabra, Adoni-zedec, astro-technician, AUDIOVISUAL TECHNICIAN, audiovisual-equipment operator ♦ Bevoriskius ♦ Communications of the ACM, C-Refine ♦ Jolly Good Fellow ♦ KHAYYAM ♦ Lions Book ♦ meteorological briefing ♦ PLANETARIUM TECHNICIAN, public-address announcer ♦ technical specialist ♦ Verdant Green. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | And though every single human in the stands or in the commentary boxes was at a complete loss for words, the man who in his life had uttered fewer words than any of them knew exactly what to say. (Babe; writing credit: George Miller) You think that's a commentary on us? (Firefly; writing credit: John Sullivan) He just won't stop with the social commentary. (Futurama; writing credit: Lance Smith; Carl Colpaert) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Composite of two illustrations: 1. Rev. L. Armstrong, Dr. B.J. Clark, Gardiner Stow, and James Mott around table with Holy Bible, Temperance Constitution, and Blackstone's Commentary; 2. The Mawney House, in which was organized the first temperance societ. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Arthur Schopenhauer | The first forty years of life give us the text; the next thirty supply the commentary on it. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Chinese media including China InfoWorld and China Computer World (as the two most important computer trade journals in China) published numerous articles and commentary advocating the independent development of industry, but many accept the need for inter-operability and global standards. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Moldova | The print media expressed a wide variety of political views and commentary. (references) |
Bulgaria | The Council of Europe's commentary criticized numerous aspects of the draft law. (references) | |
Senegal | All of the locally owned stations broadcast national news and political commentary. (references) | |
Economic History | Egypt | Well respected news coverage and political and social commentary. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | ABRACADABRA. By Abracadabra we signify An infinite number of things. 'Tis the answer to What? and How? and Why? And Whence? and Whither? -- a word whereby The Truth (with the comfort it brings) Is open to all who grope in night, Crying for Wisdom's holy light. Whether the word is a verb or a noun Is knowledge beyond my reach. I only know that 'tis handed down. From sage to sage, From age to age -- An immortal part of speech! Of an ancient man the tale is told That he lived to be ten centuries old, In a cave on a mountain side. (True, he finally died.) The fame of his wisdom filled the land, For his head was bald, and you'll understand His beard was long and white And his eyes uncommonly bright. Philosophers gathered from far and near To sit at his feat and hear and hear, Though he never was heard To utter a word But "Abracadabra, abracadab, Abracada, abracad, Abraca, abrac, abra, ab!" 'Twas all he had, 'Twas all they wanted to hear, and each Made copious notes of the mystical speech, Which they published next -- A trickle of text In the meadow of commentary. Mighty big books were these, In a number, as leaves of trees; In learning, remarkably -- very! He's dead, As I said, And the books of the sages have perished, But his wisdom is sacredly cherished. In Abracadabra it solemnly rings, Like an ancient bell that forever swings. O, I love to hear That word make clear Humanity's General Sense of Things. Jamrach Holobom |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Bill Clinton | 1993-2001 | That's what Senator Lott is going to say in the commentary afterwards. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Commentary" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Commentary" is used about 881 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 881 | 8,064 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "commentary": radio commentary ♦ running commentary. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "commentary": commentary-box. | |
Ending with "commentary": no-commentary, side-commentary, super-commentary. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "commentary"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | trajtesë, shpjegim (elucidation, exegesis, exegetics, explanation, explication, exposition, gloss, interpretation, reading, reasoning, Rede), përshkrim (delineation, depiction, description, portrait, portraiture, presentment, profile, recital, write up), kumtesë (message, paper), koment (comment, descant, notation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | نقد (cash, criticism, criticize, critique, money, paper, rave, recourse, review), تفسير (construction, exegesis, exegetics, explanation, explanatory, explication, layout, reading), تسجيل للأحداث, تعليق (abeyance, attachment, comment, gloss, quote, remark, stay, suspense, suspension, time out), تعقيب, شرح (account for, anatomize, be explained, caption, cut into slices, demonstrate, demonstration, dissect, elucidate, elucidation, explain, explanation, explication, exposition, expound, puzzle out, represent, slice, sort out). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | репортаж (rep, report, reportage), коментар (annotation, comment, gloss, reflection, remark). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 評論 (comment, to comment on, to discuss), 評註 (remark), 评论 (Comment, Commentaries, Commented, Commenting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | reportáž (report, reportage, story), komentář (comment). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | kommentar (annotation, note). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | nabeschouwing. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Esperanto | posta meditado. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farsi | گزارش رویداد(درجمع), تفسیر (Comment, Explanation, Exposition, Gloss, Paraphrase, Rendition, Version), تقریظ, سفرنگ (Gloss, Glossary), رشته یادداشت . (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | selostus (report commentary). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | commentaire (comment). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | kommentar (annotation, comment, exposition, note, remark), reportage (report). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ρεπορτάζ (reportage, reporting), σχόλια, ερμηνευτικά σχόλια, ερμηνεία (construction, gloss, interpretation, reading, rendering, rendition). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מ"רש (homily, midrash, sermon, study), פרוש (abstemious, abstinent, chaste, construction, exegesis, explanation, interpretation, reading, seclusive, self denying), פרש ות (comment, exposition, hermeneutics), "ברי פרש ות, בקורת (censure, check, control, criticism, inquiry, inspection, review, stricture), באור (explanation, meaning), ושא כלים (adjutant, armour bearer, batman, disciple, henchman, right hand man, squire). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | fejtegetés (explication). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | commentario. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 通釈 (explanation), 通解 (explanation), 評釈 (annotation), 評註 (annotation), 評注 (notes and comments), 評 (a council, criticism), 解説 (explanation), 註釈 (annotation, note), 註記 (annotation), 月旦 (first day of the month), "義 (adaptation, amplification, expansion), 批評 (criticism, review). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ひひょう (criticism, review), ひょうしゃく (annotation, dispelling doubts, melting like ice), ひょうちゅう (annotation, ice pillar, icicle, marginal notations, notes and comments), ひょう (a council, bag counter, bale, ballot, chart, criticism, hail, label, lean on, leopard, lie heavy, list, panther, recline on, sack, sign, straw bag, table, threat, ticket), つうしゃく (explanation), つうかい (explanation, intense pleasure, thrilling), かいせつ (diffraction, establishment, explanation, marine snow, opening), 'った" (first day of the month), ちゅうしゃく (annotation, comment, note, notes), ちゅうき (annotation, explanatory note, middle period, palsy, paralysis), え"ぎ (acting, adaptation, amplification, drama, expansion, omen, performance, play). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 논평 (Commentaries, Commenting). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | coontys (calculation, count, financial account, statement). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ommentarycay comentário (comment, footnote, gloss, note, reflection, reflexion, remark). (various references) cronicã (Chronicle, memorial, notice, reports, round up), comentariu (annotation, comment, gloss, reflection, remarks), tãlmãcire (explanation, interpretation, translating, translation). (various references) комментарий (annotation, comment). (various references) tumačenje (explication, interpretation, translation, version), komentar (comment). (various references) comentario (annotation, comment, descant, observation, postscript, remark). (various references) kommentar (annotation, comment, gloss). (various references) yorum (comment, construction, exegesis, exercise, explanation, explication, gloss, interpretation, observation, paraphrase, reading, remark, rendering, rendition, version), tefsir, eleştiri (animadversion, censure, comment, criticism, critique, denouncement, expostulation, knocking, review, slating, stricture, strictures), açıklama (account, clarification, comment, declaration, definition, direction, elucidation, endorsement, explanation, explication, exposition, gloss, hearing, illumination, illustration, indorsement, instruction, paraphrase, profession, statement). (various references) коментар (annotation, comment, descant), дикторський текст. (various references) b i bình luận lời chú thích. (various references) esboniad (explanation). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | commentarius. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Commentary" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: commentari, commentor, commentry, commenttary, commerntary, commetary. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "commentary" (pronounced kÄ"munte'rē) |
| 7 | -m u n t e' r ē | fragmentary, momentary. |
| 6 | -u n t e' r ē | dysentery, involuntary, sedentary. |
| 4 | -t e' r ē | budgetary, cemetery, cometary, depositary, dietary, dignitary, hereditary, interplanetary, military, monastery, monetary, nonmilitary, paramilitary, pituitary, planetary, proprietary, salutary, sanitary, secretary, solitary, tributary, undersecretary, unitary, unsanitary. |
| 3 | -e' r ē | actuary, adversary, ancillary, apothecary, arbitrary, aviary, beneficiary, bicentenary, Blackberry, blueberry, capillary, cardiopulmonary, Cassowary, cautionary, centenary, commissary, concessionary, confectionary, confectionery, Constabulary, contemporary, corollary, coronary, counterrevolutionary, cranberry, culinary, customary, deflationary, Dewberry, dictionary, disciplinary, discretionary, disinflationary, diversionary, Dogberry, dromedary, emissary, epistolary, estuary, evolutionary, exclusionary, expansionary, expeditionary, extraordinary, fiduciary, formulary, functionary, funerary, gooseberry, hackberry, honorary, Huckleberry, illusionary, imaginary, inflationary, interdisciplinary, itinerary, judiciary, lapidary, legendary, library, literary, luminary, mercenary, missionary, mortuary, mulberry, necessary, noninflationary, obituary, ordinary, pecuniary, preliminary, primary, probationary, pulmonary, quaternary, raspberry, reactionary, recessionary, revolutionary, Rosemary, sanctuary, savagery, secondary, semilegendary, seminary, stationary, stationery, statuary, strawberry, subsidiary, temporary, Tilbury, topiary, unnecessary, urinary, veterinary, visionary, vocabulary. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-m-m-n-o-r-t-y" | |
-1 letter: manometry, momentary. | |
-2 letters: cometary, enactory, monetary, mycetoma. | |
-3 letters: acronym, anymore, comment, enactor, metonym, momenta, nectary, romance, tonearm. | |
-4 letters: aroynt, atoner, canter, cantor, carmen, carnet, carney, carton, centra, coater, comate, contra, cornea, cornet, craton, crayon, creamy, enamor, etymon, macron, marmot, marten, matron, memory, mentor, merman, moaner, moment, nectar, notary, octane, omenta, ornate, recant, tanrec, trance. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-m-m-n-o-r-t-y" | |
+2 letters: commendatory, cytomembrane, dynamometric. | |
+3 letters: complementary, complimentary, cytomembranes, thermodynamic. | |
+4 letters: commensurately, manometrically, metronomically, nonsymmetrical, recommendatory, thermodynamics. | |
+5 letters: commiseratingly, complementarily, complementarity, complimentarily, semidocumentary, thermodynamical, uncomplimentary. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Translations: Ancient 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
