Wiktionary

raconteur

English

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WOTD – 4 February 2009

Etymology

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Borrowed from French raconteur.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˌɹæk.ɒnˈtəː/, /ˌɹæk.ɔ̃(n)ˈtəː/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌɹæk.ɑnˈtɝ/, /ˌɹæk.ɔ̃(n)ˈtɝ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
    ,
    Audio (US):(file)
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

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raconteur (plural raconteurs)

  1. A storyteller, especially a person noted for telling stories with skill and wit.
    • 1888, Henry James, The Liar:
      He was tempted to try the last door—to look into the room of evil fame; but he reflected that this would be indiscreet, since Colonel Capadose handled the brush—as a raconteur—with such freedom. There might be a ghost and there might not; but the Colonel himself, he inclined to think, was the most mystifying figure in the house.
    • 1905, W. G. Aston, chapter 5, in Shinto: The Way of the Gods, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., page 79:
      It is notoriously possible for the author of a fictitious narrative to become, after a time, unable to distinguish it from a statement of actual facts. There is a case on record in which a learned judge communicated to the Psychical Society in perfect good faith a ghost story, all the principal features of which were proved to be imaginary. They had their origin in his own talent as a distinguished raconteur.

Translations

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Verb

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raconteur (third-person singular simple present raconteurs, present participle raconteuring, simple past and past participle raconteured)

  1. To make witty remarks or stories.

Translations

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Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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From raconter +‎ -eur.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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raconteur m (plural raconteurs, feminine raconteuse)

  1. storyteller, narrator

Further reading

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Anagrams

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