autobiography
Americannoun
plural
autobiographiesnoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of autobiography
Explanation
You are writing an autobiography when you write your own life story. A writer who writes an autobiography is like a painter who paints a self-portrait. If you intend to write your autobiography one day, it might be a good idea to start recording notes about your life in a diary. The author Gertrude Stein was being clever when she poked fun at the very idea of autobiography when she wrote her own memoirs but titled them The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, instead of The Autobiography of Gertrude Stein.
Vocabulary lists containing autobiography
Words to Live By: Bio
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Write On!: Graph and Gram
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To Thine Own Self Be True: Auto
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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.
His only novel, “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man,” was written during his time in Nicaragua.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026
In an attempt to remedy this injustice, Blouin's memoir, titled My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria, is being re-released, having spent decades out of print.
From BBC • Jan. 6, 2025
Autobiography — alertness to lived experience, and nurture of the memory of it — has always been Harris’s natural mode as an artist.
From New York Times • Jun. 7, 2024
Her previous book, “My Autobiography of Carson McCullers,” was a case in point: a brilliant dual biography focused on McCullers’ true sexuality and Shapland’s coming into her own identity as a lesbian.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 15, 2023
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is evidence of one man’s will and belief in prayer and purpose.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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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.