biographical
Americanadjective
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of or relating to a person's life.
He's gathering biographical data for his book on Milton.
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pertaining to or containing biography.
a biographical dictionary.
Other Word Forms
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nonbiographicaladjective
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pseudobiographicadjective
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pseudobiographicaladjective
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quasi-biographicaladjective
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semibiographicadjective
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semibiographicaladjective
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unbiographicaladjective
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biographicallyadverb
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nonbiographicallyadverb
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pseudobiographicallyadverb
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quasi-biographicallyadverb
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semibiographicallyadverb
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unbiographicallyadverb
Etymology
Origin of biographical
First recorded in 1730–40; biograph(y) + -ical
Explanation
Anything biographical has to do with the story of someone's life. If you're reading a biography of Margaret Mead, you might enjoy learning biographical details, like that she was the oldest of five children. A biography is a book about someone's life. Anything biographical can be from a biography, as in an actual book about someone, or just facts from a person’s life. Biographical information could be where someone is from, where they grew up, where they went to college, or when they became famous. Biographies are usually written about famous people, but everyone has biographical details about their own lives, too.
Vocabulary lists containing biographical
Words to Live By: Bio
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Literary Terms, Grade 6, Unit 1
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List 6
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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.
Biographical documentaries too often turn into hagiographies, so you could imagine how that’s even more easily the case when the subject is as beloved as Christopher Reeve.
From New York Times • Dec. 5, 2024
In 1956, he won a Navy talent contest as a singer and appeared on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” according to the 2007 book “The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 1, 2024
Biographical material compiled by former AP reporter Gary Kane.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 30, 2022
Biographical dictionaries contain information about people who have made some mark on history in many different fields.
From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021
And if more were needed to disprove M. Nicolas' theory, there is the Biographical Notice which he himself has drawn up in direct contradiction to the interpretation of the Poems given in his notes.
From The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam by Khayyam, Omar
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.
