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psychobiography

American  
[sahy-koh-bahy-og-ruh-fee, -bee-] / ˌsaɪ koʊ baɪˈɒg rə fi, -bi- /

noun

psychobiographies plural
  1. a biographical study focusing on psychological factors, as childhood traumas and unconscious motives.


psychobiography British  
/ ˌsaɪkəʊbaɪəʊˈɡræfɪkəl, ˌsaɪkəʊbaɪˈɒɡrəfɪ /

noun

  1. a biography that pays particular attention to a person's psychological development

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Etymology

Origin of psychobiography

First recorded in 1930–35; psycho- + biography

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.

See Examples For:

What Mr. Macdonald wants to do is a kind of cultural psychobiography.

From New York Times Jul. 5, 2018

For her psychobiography of Stangl, Ms. Sereny interviewed him for more than 60 hours in prison in Düsseldorf, Germany, where he was serving a life sentence.

From New York Times Jun. 23, 2012

The author is William Todd Schultz, a professor of psychology at Pacific University, who specialises in what he calls "psychobiography".

From The Guardian Jul. 26, 2011

Haitink's Ninth flies in the face of the modern school of Mahler interpretation, with its overwrought hysteria and psychobiography.

From Chicago Tribune Jun. 3, 2011

Judiciously, Manchester pays only lip service to psychobiography.

From Time Magazine Archive

The method with the longest track record is modeled on clinical case studies, the psychobiographies that therapists create when making a diagnosis, citing influences going back to the sandbox.

From New York Times Mar. 28, 2011

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