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Synonyms

autobiography

American  
[aw-tuh-bahy-og-ruh-fee, -bee-, aw-toh-] / ˌɔ tə baɪˈɒg rə fi, -bi-, ˌɔ toʊ- /

noun

  • autobiographies
    plural
  1. a history of a person's life written or told by that person.


autobiography British  
/ ˌɔːtəʊbaɪˈɒɡrəfɪ, ˌɔːtəbaɪ- /

noun

  1. an account of a person's life written or otherwise recorded by that person

"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

autobiography Cultural  
  1. A literary work about the writer's own life. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa are autobiographical.


Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns


Etymology

Origin of autobiography

First recorded in 1790–1800; auto- 1 + biography


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.

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Vocabulary lists containing autobiography

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:

Batter Usman Khawaja has reopened discussions about the scandal with explosive claims in his new autobiography, where he said the entire Australia team knew about the use of sandpaper to tamper with the ball.

From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2026

In October, it was revealed that Khawaja had met with Cummins to discuss the contents of the upcoming autobiography.

From BBC ● Nov. 8, 2026

In 1971, at age 74, Frank Capra published his autobiography.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

In her autobiography, to be published in early 2027, she says she was a "rebellious little girl", determined to show that people did not need "the right name" to succeed.

From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026

It is true that in high school I read Augustine’s Confessions, but that extraordinary autobiography did not prompt my imitation.

From "Hunger of Memory" by Richard Rodriguez

Morgan later discovered her fears were unfounded, with both Halliwell and Beckham mentioning her fondly in their autobiographies and wondering what had happened to her after she left the group.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

So I love to look for vegan books, nutrition books, rock biographies and autobiographies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026

The book’s leading actors have been subjects of biographies and autobiographies, and most events have been exhaustively covered in scholarly and popular histories and articles as well as media reports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025

Chapter 9 is about Frederick Douglass and identity-aware liberalism, as expressed through his autobiographies.

From Salon ● Nov. 10, 2024

In their autobiographies, they recounted great races in intimate detail, but falls and injuries were glossed over with the most perfunctory language.

From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand

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