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
Derived 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
Porsche Carrera Cup autograph session, Porsche Carrera Cup paddock, main expo hall; 12:05-1 p.m.,
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
As one of the site’s Nation Builders—first-person interpreters portraying figures of Revolutionary America—Smith regularly fields autograph requests and accepts gifts: a custom mug tiled with his own face, a vinyl album of original Jefferson ballads.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
But the cigars remain as do the memories, which are rekindled by the letters and autograph requests that still arrive regularly in the mailbox.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 12, 2026
“Write something in my autograph book, huh, Frances? So’s I can sell it when you get famous.”
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
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.
