biopic
Americannoun
noun
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.
Appeared in the May 2, 2026, print edition as 'Michael Jackson’s Biopic Blinds Us From the Truth'.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026
Biopic of Welsh journalist Gareth Jones, who was the first western writer to report on the Soviet famines of the early 1930s.
From The Guardian • May 12, 2020
Marie Curie — The Courage of Knowledge Biopic of the Polish-born physicist and chemist, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 25, 2017
Shia LaBeouf as Tennis Star John McEnroe in a new Biopic currently filming in Sweden… but does he look anything like McEnroe?
From Time • Oct. 5, 2016
The Runaways Biopic of the seminal all-girl LA band.
From The Guardian • Sep. 3, 2010
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.
