commentaries

Written critical observations

Commentaries are explanatory or interpretive writings on a text, event, or subject.

The term often appears in titles of scholarly works: Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War.

In legal contexts, commentaries analyze statutes or case law.

Sports commentaries provide real-time description and analysis of games.

The singular commentary covers both the genre and specific instances.

scholarly

exegesis

Critical textual interpretation

hermeneuticsStudy of interpretation methods
annotationAdded explanatory comment
glossShine or annotation

footnotes · marginalia · biblical · textual · philological · academic · peer-reviewed · citations · treatise · rabbinical

broadcast

play-by-play

Real-time event narration

sportscasterBroadcasts athletic events
announcerOne who introduces programs
anchorSecures ships to seabed

live · postgame · television · radio · podcast · streaming · coverage · correspondent · newscast · airwaves

critique

review

Critical written assessment

criticismJudgment of faults
opinionSubjective personal belief
editorialPublication's official viewpoint article

assessment · analysis · takedown · rebuttal · reaction · response · punditry · op-ed · column · blog

social

observation

Attentive watching or remark

remarkSpoken comment or note
reflectionReturned light or thought
statementExpressed claim or fact

insight · cultural · political · satire · irony · subtext · zeitgeist · discourse · narrative · societal

Categories

articlesarticle, magazine article, features, feature stories, columns
academic publishingscholarly books, academic papers, academic journals, monographs, scholarly works
DVD extrasspecial features, making-of, behind-the-scenes, outtakes, alternate ending
secondary sourcessummaries, digests, synopses, abridgments, excerpts
Caesar's WritingsGallic Wars, Civil War, war memoirs, Germanic tribes, lost works
Medieval PlatonismPlato, Neoplatonism, forms, ideas, Augustine

Opposites

original vs. secondary

commentariesprimary sources

Firsthand historical evidence

source material · primary documents · original manuscripts · autographs · first editions

analysis vs. raw content

commentariesraw data

Unanalyzed collected information

bare facts · raw footage · primary evidence · plain text

critical vs. uncritical

commentariessilence

Total lack of sound

literal reading · compliments · praise · endorsements

Phrases

running commentariesOngoing verbal accounts of events
social commentariesCritiques of societal norms
audio commentariesRecorded explanatory voiceovers

Family

comment, commentary, comments, commentator, commentators, commentating, commentated

Familiarity: Top 200,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Everyday, not technical · Rated G