diegesis

D2I1E1G2E1S1I1S1
US, UK/ˌdaɪ.ɪˈd͡ʒiːsɪs/US, UK/ˌdaɪ.əˈd͡ʒiːsɪs/

noun

A narration or recitation.

Scrabble 10

Meanings

noundiegesis (plural diegeses)

plural diegeses

  1. human sciencesA narration or recitation.

    A novel like Sterne′s Tristram Shandy, however, simply embeds a number of different diegeses on the play-within-a-play model.

    1985, Bill Nichols, Movies and Methods: An Anthology, page 504
    2 more examples

    The standard distinction between mimesis and diegesis is usually referred to as that between showing and telling, between iconic and indexical signs on the one hand and symbolic signs on the other, between drama and recitation.

    1991, Christopher Collins, The Poetics of the Mind's Eye: Literature and the Psychology of Imagination, page 4

    Extradiegetic music is a matter of pure convention. It constitutes an exception within Hollywood classical cinema, in which everything is to belong to diegesis in order to elaborate a fictive, realistic universe.

    2004, Sarah Hatchuel, Shakespeare: From Stage to Screen, page 89

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekδιήγησις“narration”
  2. Englishdiegesis

Ancient Greek διήγησις (diḗgēsis, “narration”), from διηγέομαι (diēgéomai, “I narrate”)

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Polish diegeza
  • diegezaTranslations

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with diegesis

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

diegesis. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diegesis

MLA

“diegesis.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diegesis. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “diegesis,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/diegesis.

Source: diegesis on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.