Commentates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To narrate and analyze ongoing events, particularly sports, while providing context and insights for viewers or listeners
2. Offers a running verbal description and interpretation of events as they unfold, often used during sports broadcasts
3. Delivers real-time spoken coverage and expert insights about what's happening to enhance the audience's understanding

Etymology: "Commentates" is the third-person singular form of "commentate", which was formed by back-formation from "commentator". In other words, the noun came first, and the verb was created later by stripping off the noun's ending and treating what remained as a verb root. "Commentator" itself is built on "comment", which descends from Latin "commentum", an invention or contrivance, and the verb ending "-ate" is the familiar suffix that turns nouns and roots into verbs. Rather than writing a fresh account of sports broadcasting, the story here is about grammar: the verb grew out of a noun already in use, so speakers had a commentator who commentated.

Synonyms: analyzes, discusses