biography

bi·og·ra·phy

noun \bī-ˈä-grə-fē also bē-\

plural bi·og·ra·phies

Definition of BIOGRAPHY

1

: a usually written history of a person's life

2

: biographical writings as a whole

3

: an account of the life of something (as an animal, a coin, or a building)

Examples of BIOGRAPHY

1. a new biography of Abraham Lincoln
2. <an unauthorized biography of the actor gave him some serious headaches>

Origin of BIOGRAPHY

Late Greek biographia, from Greek bi- + -graphia -graphy

First Known Use: 1683

Related to BIOGRAPHY

Synonyms

bio, life, memoir

Related Words

autobiography; hagiography; psychobiography; pathography, tell-all; chronicle, history, past, story; obituary; character sketch, profile

Other Literature Terms

apophasis, bathos, bildungsroman, bowdlerize, caesura, coda, doggerel, euphemism, poesy, prosody

Rhymes with BIOGRAPHY

autography, cacography, cartography, chorography, chronography, cosmography, cryptography, demography, discography, ethnography, filmography, geography, holography, lithography, lymphography, mammography, mythography, nomography, orthography, phonography, photography, pictography, planography, pornography, reprography, sonography, stenography, thermography, tomography, topography, typography, venography, xerography, xylography

biography

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Form of nonfictional literature whose subject is the life of an individual. The earliest biographical writings probably were funeral speeches and inscriptions. The origins of modern biography lie with Plutarch's moralizing lives of prominent Greeks and Romans and Suetonius's gossipy lives of the Caesars. Few biographies of common individuals were written until the 16th century. The major developments of English biography came in the 18th century, with such works as James Boswell's Life of Johnson. In modern times impatience with Victorian reticence and the development of psychoanalysis have sometimes led to a more penetrating and comprehensive understanding of biographical subjects. See also autobiography.