bibliography

noun

bib·​li·​og·​ra·​phy ˌbi-blē-ˈä-grə-fē 

plural bibliographies

1

: the history, identification, or description of writings or publications

2

a

: a list often with descriptive or critical notes of writings relating to a particular subject, period, or author

a bibliography of modern poetry

b

: a list of works written by an author or printed by a publishing house

compiled a complete bibliography of John Donne

3

: the works or a list of the works referred to in a text or consulted by the author in its production

The book's bibliography contains over 400 items.

bibliographic

ˌbi-blē-ə-ˈgra-fik 

adjective

or less commonly bibliographical

ˌbi-blē-ə-ˈgra-fi-kəl 

bibliographically

ˌbi-blē-ə-ˈgra-fi-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Examples of bibliography in a Sentence

The instructor provided the students with an excellent bibliography on local history.

The book includes a lengthy bibliography.

Recent Examples on the Web

The funniest part of BookTok fame has been seeing fans discover how extensive her bibliography is. —Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 23 Sep. 2025

Hilton Als, a staff writer who has written about Baldwin many times, joined us to share a few essential entries from Baldwin’s bibliography. —The New Yorker, New Yorker, 20 Aug. 2025

Like Tolstoy, John Steinbeck’s bibliography is chockablock with classics worth a read. —Kevin Dickinson, Big Think, 8 Aug. 2025

The game cites influences front and center complete with a bibliography in the first few pages. —Rob Wieland, Forbes.com, 20 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

probably from New Latin bibliographia, from Greek, the copying of books, from bibli- + -graphia -graphy

First Known Use

1689, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for bibliography

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

Kids Definition

bibliography

noun

bib·​li·​og·​ra·​phy ˌbib-lē-ˈäg-rə-fē 

plural bibliographies

: a list of writings about a subject or author or by an author

bibliographic

ˌbib-lē-ə-ˈgraf-ik 

adjective

or bibliographical

-ˈgraf-i-kəl