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Synonyms

biography

American  
[bahy-og-ruh-fee, bee-] / baɪˈɒg rə fi, bi- /

noun

plural

biographies

  1. a written account of another person's life.

    the biography of Byron by Marchand.

  2. an account in biographical form of an organization, society, theater, animal, etc.

  3. such writings collectively.

  4. the writing of biography as an occupation or field of endeavor.

biography British  
/ baɪˈɒɡrəfɪ, ˌbaɪəˈɡræfɪkəl /

noun

  1. an account of a person's life by another

  2. such accounts collectively

"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
biography Cultural  

  1. The story of someone's life. The Life of Samuel Johnson, by James Boswell, and Abraham Lincoln, by Carl Sandburg, are two noted biographies. The story of the writer's own life is an autobiography.

Other Word Forms

  • biographer noun
  • biographical adjective
  • biographically adverb

Etymology

Origin of biography

From the Greek word biographía, dating back to 1675–85. See bio-, -graphy

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.

Madariaga’s response was exquisitely catty, describing Morison’s biography of Columbus as “a most interesting Life from the yachtsman’s point of view.”

From The Wall Street Journal

O'Farrell read extensively about the playwright but said there is still "awful lot about his biography we don't know".

From BBC

All of these biographies offer a full accounting of Roosevelt’s virtues and faults without resorting to caricature.

From The Wall Street Journal

According to the biography section on her own website, Ms Sood "faced and successfully overcame many challenges" in her early career.

From BBC

He started reading the Harry Potter books on top of his historical biographies and conservative magazines, and chided me for acting like I was too cool for Hogwarts.

From Salon

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.