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 If you make a documentary about the U.S. Library of Congress, you'll be documenting lots of historical documents.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

Several pictures show the steps of Baltimore’s rowhouses, some in a documentary fashion, some as abstractions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2026

Mitchell Reiss tells the documentary series that advances which followed in the peace process – including the IRA's announcement of an end to its armed campaign – were "a direct consequence" of the McCartneys' campaign.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

But, as the documentary shows, their pursuit of justice was not over.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

The duo behind the hit documentary share some of their journey in making the hit film.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026

Instead of continuing to work on our research projects, he pops in a documentary about World War II, which we’ve already covered.

From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez

He also composed and wrote scores for a wide range of projects including TV dramas, documentaries and films.

From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026

The BBC has also announced the closure of Radio 4 Extra, which largely airs speech programmes from the BBC's archive, including comedy, drama and documentaries.

From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026

She eventually broke into her own work beyond documentaries and videography, directing two narrative feature films before the pandemic began.

From Salon ● Oct. 20, 2026

Kino Lorber, a distribution company, is known for enlightening and engaging documentaries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

You don't have to watch many wildlife documentaries to know that the herd doesn't accept the lone straggler.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan

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Related Words

• broadcast
• feature
• film
• narrative

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