hagiography
Americannoun
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hagiographies
plural
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the writing and critical study of the lives of the saints; hagiology.
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a biography that treats the person with excessive or undue admiration.
noun
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the writing of the lives of the saints
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biography of the saints
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any biography that idealizes or idolizes its subject
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hagiography
Explanation
A hagiography is a type of biography that puts the subject in a very flattering light. Hagiographies are often about saints. The two halves of hagiography refer to holiness and writing, and it is something written about holy people. Originally, a hagiography was a biography of a saint written without skepticism or criticism. A hagiography idealizes the subject and puts them on a pedestal. These days, a hagiography is not necessarily written about a saint, but it still idolizes the subject. A hagiography makes the subject seem like a hero, or at least a wonderful, nearly perfect person.
Vocabulary lists containing hagiography
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Amid all the hagiography, Obama’s record warrants some scrutiny.
From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026
It’s the 250th birthday of the United States of America and how better to celebrate than with a big-screen hagiography of America’s first president, George Washington?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
At times the author goes beyond the biographer’s requisite sympathetic engagement and enters the realm of hagiography.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
As beautiful as this book is, worthy of the finest coffee table, it would be a mistake to call it a hagiography.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
The hagiography of the Eastern and the Greek church also has been the subject of important publications.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 7 "Gyantse" to "Hallel" by Various
She examined frescoes, illuminated manuscripts, hagiographies, and letters, uncovering materials that had been misdated or wrongly attributed.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 2, 2026
Tokarczuk has constructed her narrative as a collage of legends, letters, diary entries, rumors, hagiographies, political attacks and historical records.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2022
They can range from Kitty Kelly’s unauthorized assessments of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan to countless hagiographies in which the subject has final say over the manuscript.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 31, 2021
Jukebox musicals, monologues and hagiographies are not my favorite things.
From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2018
The picture exhibited in the hagiographies is truly the reign of the saints.
From The Book-Hunter A New Edition, with a Memoir of the Author by John Hill Burton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
