hagiography
Americannoun
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the writing and critical study of the lives of the saints; hagiology.
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a biography that treats the person with excessive or undue admiration.
noun
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the writing of the lives of the saints
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biography of the saints
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any biography that idealizes or idolizes its subject
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hagiography
Explanation
A hagiography is a type of biography that puts the subject in a very flattering light. Hagiographies are often about saints. The two halves of hagiography refer to holiness and writing, and it is something written about holy people. Originally, a hagiography was a biography of a saint written without skepticism or criticism. A hagiography idealizes the subject and puts them on a pedestal. These days, a hagiography is not necessarily written about a saint, but it still idolizes the subject. A hagiography makes the subject seem like a hero, or at least a wonderful, nearly perfect person.
Vocabulary lists containing hagiography
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Ten Words from The New York Times - June 12, 2013
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At times the author goes beyond the biographer’s requisite sympathetic engagement and enters the realm of hagiography.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
Rosen: Dean was this larger-than-life icon in the climbing world, but we did not want to make a hagiography.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026
It is an exhausting hagiography of yet another man who had an affair while in office.
From Slate • Feb. 25, 2026
In this sense, hagiography is not simply about remembering the dead: It mobilizes the living.
From Salon • Sep. 27, 2025
This name of Chiwidden is a famous name in Cornish hagiography.
From Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities by Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
