commentariat means all the pundits and commentators of the news media collectively. It carries an Arena rating of 1361, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, commentariat ranks #329 of 13,217 for Most Satisfying to Say, #816 of 13,217 for Most Incisive Words, #2,563 of 13,217 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,872 of 13,217 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound.
Why “commentariat” is a great word
All pundits and commentators of the news media, considered collectively. A blend of 'commentary' or 'commentator' and '-ariat' (as in 'proletariat'), formed by analogy with words like 'proprietariat' and 'secretariat'; first attested in 1993. Unlike 'punditocracy,' which implies a ruling class of media power, or 'correspondent,' which denotes a reporter of facts, the commentariat is the sprawling ecosystem of opinion. It is the synchronized nodding of Sunday talk-show panels, the endless scroll of hot takes beneath a news article, and the low, constant hum of cable news analysis—the ambient noise of a society endlessly explaining itself to itself.
Etymology
Probably a blend of commentary + proletariat, perhaps after proprietariat and salariat. Perhaps compare also secretariat.
noun
- All the pundits and commentators of the news media collectively.“From Boston, a man who finally joined the commentariat by making his debut on CNBC’s Hardball, Esquire Magazine writer-at-large, Charlie Pierce!”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.