biopic
Americannoun
-
biopics
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of biopic
1950–55; bio(graphy) + (motion) pic(ture)
Explanation
A biopic is a fictional film that's based on a true story of a famous person. If you develop a cure for cancer or get elected president, someone may make a biopic about you one day! Biopic is a shorthand term for biographical (moving) picture that's been around since the 1950s. Some of these films stick very closely to the biography of their subject, in an attempt to tell a true story of a real person. Others take great liberties with the biographical details in order to make a more interesting plot. Either way, if you like movies about historical figures, movie stars, and sports legends, you should check out some biopics!
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:
But when Tony leaves for the day and is left to his own devices in Provincetown, the movie falls hard into all of the trite trappings of your average biopic.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Dominic Sessa stars alongside Antonio Banderas, Leo Woodall and Emilia Jones in a superb biopic about the renowned chef, years before fame, that stresses the value of discipline and hard work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Slate’s movie critic, Dana Stevens, loved Tony, the new biopic about Anthony Bourdain.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
Three groundbreaking works by Gregory Nava will also be honored: the Oscar-nominated “El Norte,” “My Family/Mi Familia” and the Jennifer Lopez-led biopic “Selena.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
As luck would have it, though, the only English-language film being shown in Belgrade was Lust for Life, the lush biopic of the mad nineteenth-century Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
There is no wall up, no layer of artifice between the musician and the actor plaguing modern biopics.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
“Michael” went on to shatter box-office records for biopics, raking in almost $220 million worldwide during its first opening weekend.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
“Michael” earned around $218 million opening weekend, handily beating past music films and even general-interest biopics like “Oppenheimer.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026
There are three sports biopics in the running this year: Marty Supreme, about a table-tennis player's pursuit of greatness; Christy, which follows boxer Christy Martin; and The Smashing Machine, about UFC fighter Mark Kerr.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2025
Like Cooper, Springsteen himself had long resisted biopics, wary of anything artificial, but the director’s unvarnished films, particularly “Crazy Heart,” “Hostiles” and “Out of the Furnace,” resonated deeply with him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 28, 2025
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.
