biopic
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of biopic
1950–55; bio(graphy) + (motion) pic(ture)
Explanation
A biopic is a fictional film that's based on a true story of a famous person. If you develop a cure for cancer or get elected president, someone may make a biopic about you one day! Biopic is a shorthand term for biographical (moving) picture that's been around since the 1950s. Some of these films stick very closely to the biography of their subject, in an attempt to tell a true story of a real person. Others take great liberties with the biographical details in order to make a more interesting plot. Either way, if you like movies about historical figures, movie stars, and sports legends, you should check out some biopics!
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.
Supermodel Bella Hadid let her figure-hugging Schiaparelli dress do the talking for her at the premiere of the epic Charles de Gaulle biopic "De Gaulle: Tilting Iron".
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
Che had to stand behind the Michael Jackson biopic that conspicuously leaves out much of the pop star’s life after the 1980s.
From Salon • May 17, 2026
A yearning for the limelight led to a 2015 meeting with Hollywood star Sean Penn and Mexican actress Kate del Castillo in the wilds of Sinaloa to discuss a possible biopic.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026
According to the film's producers, the biopic covers how football became "the young boy's only escape from his tough home life".
From BBC • May 12, 2026
As luck would have it, though, the only English-language film being shown in Belgrade was Lust for Life, the lush biopic of the mad nineteenth-century Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
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.
