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

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Etymology

Origin of documentary

First recorded in 1795–1805; document + -ary

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 If you make a documentary about the U.S. Library of Congress, you'll be documenting lots of historical documents.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

While the former Theranos CEO is serving time in a Texas federal prison, Evans is active on X and fielding burning questions inspired by the documentary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

The hit movie of the fall is…a three-hour documentary about investor fraud?

From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2026

The remarks came in a second excerpt released by ITV from the forthcoming documentary Dear Henry: Our Fight For Justice.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

"You Can See Everything," the documentary about jailed biotech fraudster Elizabeth Holmes that is generating major Oscars buzz, prevailed in a slow weekend at the Halloween box office in North America, industry estimates showed Sunday.

From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026

My friend told me about the most incredible documentary.

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison

In many adventure documentaries, the audience expects the main characters to confront the possibility they might die, but they’re the stars telling the story, so of course that won’t happen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

There are dozens off the top of my head, released this decade alone, that should’ve been in contention — documentaries as important and memorable, if not more, than the narrative movies nominated in the category.

From Salon ● Oct. 28, 2026

Generally, yes — at least in documentaries that follow traditional journalistic standards.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026

The director and producer spoke about his pair of documentaries arriving in successive weeks that take a closer look at two singular comedians.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026

There are Olympic-style documentaries showing photos and videos of each of tonight’s players.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

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Related Words

• broadcast
• feature
• film
• narrative

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