scenarist

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noun

A writer of screenplays; a screenwriter.

OriginEnglish scenar(io) ← Italian scenario ← Latin scēna →
UncommonScrabble 11
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Meanings

nounscenarist (plural scenarists)

plural scenarists

  1. broadcastingA writer of screenplays; a screenwriter.

    What was acted out in the American and French Revolutions had been thought out beforehand in the writings of Locke and Rousseau, the scenarists for the drama of modern politics.

    1987, Allan Bloom, The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)ḱeh₃-
  2. Ancient Greekσκηνή (skēnḗ)
  3. Latinscēna
  4. Italianscena
  5. Italianscenario
  6. Englishscenar(io)
  7. Englishscenarist

From scenar(io) + -ist.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish skenaristi
  • skenaristiwriter of screenplays
German Szenenschreiber, Szenenschreiberin
  • Szenenschreiberwriter of screenplays
  • Szenenschreiberinwriter of screenplays
Turkish senarist
  • senaristwriter of screenplays
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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