autobiography

noun

au·​to·​bi·​og·​ra·​phy ˌȯ-tə-bī-ˈä-grə-fē 

-bē-

plural autobiographies

: the biography of a person narrated by that person : a usually written account of a person's life in their own words

celebrity autobiographies

The fall and rise of Chrysler Corporation is an oft-told tale—three books on the subject have appeared already, including Lee Iacocca's bestselling autobiography.

—Jerry Flint

Frederick Douglass's autobiographies are invaluable both for what they reveal about antebellum slavery and for what they reveal about a remarkable American.

—Peter Kolchin

This last book … is part autobiography and part fiction, though it is listed as fiction.

—Mims Cushing

Some 400 crowded both floors of the bookstore and lined up around the block as Iggy [Pop] signed the entire stock of 200 copies of his autobiography "I Need More."

—Publishers Weekly

In recent years, the biggest-selling baseball books have been autobiographies of colorful personalities, written with the aid of collaborators.

—Ray Walters

The letters are arranged chronologically and episodically to form an autobiography.

—William S. McFeely

Examples of autobiography in a Sentence

I read her autobiography last year.

Recent Examples on the Web

Ever since 1994’s Little Odessa, James Gray has been chronicling the lives of New York’s outer-borough residents in films that crossbreed autobiography with genre. — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 21 Sep. 2026

In his autobiography, Olivier admits to feeling guilt and self-loathing over the red-hot affair, especially since his wife was pregnant with their son Tarquin. — Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 21 Sep. 2026

The result is a strange, bewitching experiment in autobiography, in which there are no friendships or love affairs, just exquisite digressions on life-changing texts. — Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026

But the novel makes its intentions clear in its opening lines, when the narrator reports having confessed an interest in writing M’s autobiography and M asking if the story would be entirely made up. — The Week Us, TheWeek, 15 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

auto- + biography, perhaps after German Autobiographie

First Known Use

1797, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing autobiography

• semi-autobiography

Rhymes for autobiography

• bibliography
• choreography
• chromatography
• crystallography
• hagiography
• iconography
• lexicography
• metallography
• myelography
• oceanography
• physiography
• plethysmography

Kids Definition

autobiography

noun

au·​to·​bi·​og·​ra·​phy ˌȯt-ə-bī-ˈäg-rə-fē 

-bē-

: a biography written by the person it is about

autobiographer

-rə-fər 

noun

autobiographical

-ˌbī-ə-ˈgraf-i-kəl 

adjective

also autobiographic

-ˈgraf-ik 

autobiographically

-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb