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autobiographical

American  
[aw-tuh-bahy-uh-graf-i-kuhl, aw-toh-] / ˌɔ təˌbaɪ əˈgræf ɪ kəl, ˌɔ toʊ- /
Also autobiographic

adjective

  1. marked by or dealing with one's own experiences or life history; of or in the manner of an autobiography: an autobiographical novel.

    autobiographical material;

    an autobiographical novel.


autobiographical British  
/ ˌɔːtəˌbaɪəˈɡræfɪkəl /

adjective

  1. of or concerned with one's own life

  2. of or relating to an autobiography

"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

Etymology

Origin of autobiographical

First recorded in 1820–30; auto- 1 + biographical

Explanation

Anything autobiographical is all about you. If you tell your new class an autobiographical story, it's a true tale of your real life. An autobiography is a person's life story, and things that have to do with that life story can be described as autobiographical. The autobiographical details in your grandmother's collection of photo albums might be your favorite parts, brief but fascinating glimpses into her life. And if you love autobiographical writing, you're a fan of memoirs. This word comes from auto-, "self," and the Greek biographia, "description of life."

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Vocabulary lists containing autobiographical

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:

“In some ways this is my most autobiographical film,” Johnson says.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 11, 2026

Another title - I am Fan Yusu - an autobiographical essay about a migrant worker's personal struggle, swept the Chinese internet in 2017.

From BBC Jul. 20, 2026

This would be hard for any artist, but it’s disastrous for someone whose work is generally interpreted as autobiographical.

From Salon Jul. 8, 2026

They also examined connectivity within the default mode network, a group of interconnected brain regions that plays an important role in attention, autobiographical memory, and other cognitive functions.

From Science Daily Jul. 1, 2026

Raisa Aronova, of the 46th Guards, wrote an autobiographical book called Night Witches, published in 1980; in 1981, Yevgeniya Zhigulenko, who’d become a filmmaker, produced and directed a full-length feature film about the 46th Guards.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

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