documentary

American  

[dok-yuh-men-tuh-ree, -tree] / ˌdɒk yəˈmɛn tə ri, -tri /

adjective

1. Also documental pertaining to, consisting of, or derived from documents.

   a documentary history of France.

2. Movies, Television. based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate and contains no fictional elements.

   a documentary life of Gandhi.

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noun

plural

documentaries

1. Movies, Television. a documentary film, radio or television program, etc.

documentary British  

/ ˌdɒkjʊˈmɛntərɪ, -trɪ /

adjective

1. Also: documental.  consisting of, derived from, or relating to documents

2. presenting factual material with little or no fictional additions

   the book gives a documentary account of the war

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noun

1. a factual film or television programme about an event, person, etc, presenting the facts with little or no fiction

Other Word Forms

• documentarily adverb
• nondocumental adjective
• nondocumentary adjective
• predocumentary adjective
• semidocumentary adjective
• undocumentary adjective

Etymology

Origin of documentary

First recorded in 1795–1805; document + -ary

Explanation

A documentary is a film or video examining an event or person based on facts. The word can also refer to anything involving documents. The idea of documentary as meaning "pertaining to documents" came about at the beginning of the 19th century. Later, it came to mean a factual record of something. On PBS, you'll see lots of documentaries, about everything from baseball to war. Those documentaries are nonfiction films — they're showing true life. However, lots of fictional shows are filmed in a realistic documentary style. If you make a documentary about the U.S. Library of Congress, you'll be documenting lots of historical documents.

Example Sentences

The other thing about a good rock documentary is when the movie makes you viscerally not just understand but feel how good the band was.

From Salon • Apr. 28, 2026

Her reporting on GameStop is also the basis for a Netflix documentary on the frenzy, Eat the Rich, which she helped produce.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026

The documentary was well-received and buzzy, but for Jackson’s army of fans, it didn’t move the needle.

From Salon • Apr. 25, 2026

In a BBC documentary in 2002, Richard Perle, assistant US defence secretary at the time, said: "Britain would probably have lost the war without American assistance. That's how significant it was."

From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026

In Health, we once saw a documentary on migraines.

From "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher

Related Words

• broadcast
• feature
• film
• narrative