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 If you make a documentary about the U.S. Library of Congress, you'll be documenting lots of historical documents.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

In a documentary capturing the band's early days, the trainees were berated for posting photos from their dorms on social media.

From BBC • Jun. 19, 2026

In the last few years, the entertainment industry has shifted toward covering enslaved people’s artistic and culinary creations, as in the Netflix soul food documentary series “High on the Hog.”

From Salon • Jun. 19, 2026

This History Channel documentary follows the boxers’ first encounter in 1936, exploring how the rivalry came to symbolize geopolitical tensions before World War II.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 18, 2026

In the BBC documentary series, he travels to some of the world's most dangerous places, interviewing young men who live on the fringes of society.

From BBC • Jun. 18, 2026

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

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon

Related Words

• broadcast
• feature
• film
• narrative