autobiography
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of autobiography
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.
Vocabulary lists containing autobiography
Words to Live By: Bio
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Write On!: Graph and Gram
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To Thine Own Self Be True: Auto
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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.
Miles Davis, in his autobiography, referred to Rollins around this time as being “a legend, almost a god to a lot of the younger musicians.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
I would read his autobiography all the time and his whole thing was affecting the music, affecting the listener, really approaching it to challenge the listener as well as challenging yourself.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
Maya Angelou’s autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was included in the purge; Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” was not.
From Salon • May 3, 2026
That year Kershaw also released an autobiography entitled No Off Switch, detailing his life and career.
From BBC • Apr. 17, 2026
From Florida to Maine his pamphlets, and later his autobiography, were burned in bonfires along with his effigy.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
