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Synonyms

documentary

American  
[dok-yuh-men-tuh-ree, -tree] / ˌdɒk yəˈmɛn tə ri, -tri /

adjective

  1. Also documental pertaining to, consisting of, or derived from documents.

    a documentary history of France.

  2. Movies, Television. based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate and contains no fictional elements.

    a documentary life of Gandhi.

noun

plural

documentaries

  1. Movies, Television. a documentary film, radio or television program, etc.

documentary British  
/ ˌdɒkjʊˈmɛntərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

  1. Also: documental.  consisting of, derived from, or relating to documents

  2. presenting factual material with little or no fictional additions

    the book gives a documentary account of the war
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. a factual film or television programme about an event, person, etc, presenting the facts with little or no fiction

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • documentarily adverb
  • nondocumental adjective
  • nondocumentary adjective
  • predocumentary adjective
  • semidocumentary adjective
  • undocumentary adjective

Etymology

Origin of documentary

First recorded in 1795–1805; document + -ary

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.

But she went behind the camera for a strikingly original documentary presenting views about, and depictions of, life after death: “Heaven.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Footage in the Harry and Meghan documentary showed her attending the Super Bowl, going on bike rides with her cousin and playing with his son Archie on a beach.

From BBC

The divide gets more complicated when the documentary trails openly gay veteran Garden Club member David Garner, whose charity work benefiting the LGBTQ+ community would seem to point to an old world’s shifting tolerance.

From Los Angeles Times

He was the focus of a BBC Disclosure documentary, Out on the Pitch, which aired in March 2023 after his coming out.

From BBC

It’s presented as a documentary, and the images of the Obamas have been weirdly inserted as almost a subliminal flash near the end.

From Los Angeles Times

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.