biopic
Americannoun
-
biopics
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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!
Vocabulary lists containing biopic
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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.
See Examples For:
Sir Nicholas' work has been the subject of a number of different films and documentaries, most recently the biopic One Life.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Police conducted dozens of raids Thursday into the alleged embezzlement of public funds by the company that produced the flattering biopic.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
If you’re in the mood for a coming-of-age drama, the Anthony Bourdain biopic Tony is “is a perfect little movie,” according to Dana Stevens.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026
And he’s hopeful that his long-delayed Bee Gees biopic, set for production at Paramount, will go ahead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 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
But his recapitulations of Vyvyan’s battles with the taxman, of bygone court cases and of late-20th-century documentaries and biopics could have been done at half the length.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
There is no wall up, no layer of artifice between the musician and the actor plaguing modern biopics.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
Lionsgate’s “Michael” is on track to unseat “Straight Outta Compton” as the king of musical biopics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
During interviews about “A Complete Unknown,” Mangold defended biopics against charges of formularism.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
There are three sports biopics in the running this year: Marty Supreme, about a table-tennis player's pursuit of greatness; Christy, which follows boxer Christy Martin; and The Smashing Machine, about UFC fighter Mark Kerr.
From BBC ● Dec. 7, 2025
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.
