To provide spoken or written explanation and analysis of events as they happen, especially sports or news events.
Back-formation from 'commentator' (one who comments), which comes from Latin 'commentari' (to think about). This verb was created by removing the '-or' suffix, following English word-formation patterns in the 20th century.
This word is actually a relatively modern creation—'commentate' didn't become popular until radio and TV needed a verb to describe what sports announcers did in real-time, showing how technology drives language evolution!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.