documentary

American  

[dok-yuh-men-tuh-ree, -tree] / ˌdɒk jəˈmɛn 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

• documentaries
  plural

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

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• documentaries
  plural

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 If you make a documentary about the U.S. Library of Congress, you'll be documenting lots of historical documents.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

See Examples For:

documentary documentaries

The Candy family are a tight-knit group, so the choice to participate in a documentary was a group decision.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

In addition, Paoletta has glorified Thomas as a legal commentator for years, including in a book he edited and in a documentary that features 25 hours of interviews with Thomas about his life.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

Dozens more who worked at his luxury department store have filed for compensation under a redress scheme set up after a 2024 BBC documentary revealed the scale of his alleged offences.

From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026

The 43-year-old became widely known following a Netflix documentary chronicling his journey, 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, released two years later.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

Dimple thought, in a documentary narrators deep, polished voice.

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon

Siebel Newsom leads the Representation Project, a nonprofit that advocates for gender equity through film and education programs, and Girls Club Entertainment, a for-profit production company she owns that holds the copyrights to her documentaries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Outside of writing this newsletter, I work on radio documentaries with my partner, Stephen.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026

Never mind that countless PBS documentaries have had no trouble realistically depicting revolutionary-era America without AI; Netflix is innovating.

From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026

Orton: I’ve done a lot of documentaries with people who learn hard things or process hard things on camera, and it can get sticky.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026

There's a list of documentaries I might like.

From "We Are Okay" by Nina LaCour

Related Words

• broadcast
• feature
• film
• narrative