autograph
Americannoun
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a person's own signature.
He collects autographs of artists.
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something written in a person's own hand, as a manuscript or letter.
adjective
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written by a person's own hand.
an autograph letter.
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containing autographs.
an autograph album.
verb (used with object)
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to write one's name on or in; sign.
to autograph a book.
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to write with one's own hand.
noun
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a handwritten signature, esp that of a famous person
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( as modifier )
an autograph album
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a person's handwriting
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a book, document, etc, handwritten by its author; original manuscript; holograph
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( as modifier )
an autograph letter
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verb
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to write one's signature on or in; sign
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to write with one's own hand
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of autograph
1630–40; < Latin autographum, noun use of neuter of Latin autographus written with one's own hand < Greek autógraphos. See auto- 1, -graph
Explanation
If you sign your name on something, you autograph it. You have to autograph a check before it can be cashed. An autograph is a signature. Famous people are asked for their autographs all the time, but you might be surprised and flattered if a little girl asked for yours after you played Dorothy in your community theater production of "The Wizard of Oz." An original manuscript or musical composition written in the handwriting of the author or composer is also called an autograph. In 1938, the Museum of Modern Art displayed an autograph of Mark Twain's "Tom Sawyer."
Vocabulary lists containing autograph
Write On!: Graph and Gram
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To Thine Own Self Be True: Auto
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Do it Yourself: Words Beginning with "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.
Du Bois, Thurgood Marshall, Duke Ellington—and once waited in the lobby of Coleman Hawkins’s building so he could get the tenor saxophonist’s autograph.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 26, 2026
Fermin Padilla of Los Angeles got Turner’s autograph on a jacket, cap and jersey.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
“Or, are you not Lake Bell?” asks the autograph seeker.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026
Items signed by top names and then listed online by autograph hunters can sell for tens of thousands of pounds.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026
Somebody get me a pen: I’ve even got some ideas for a new autograph.
From "Better Nate Than Ever" by Tim Federle
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.
