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So You've Been Asked to Submit a Biography
In a library, the word biography refers both to a kind of book and to a section where books of that kind are found. Each biography tells the story of a real person's life. A biography may be about someone who lived long ago, recently, or even someone who is still living, though in the last case it must necessarily be incomplete. The term autobiography refers to a biography written by the person it's about. Autobiographies are of course also necessarily incomplete.
Sometimes biographies are significantly shorter than a book—something anyone who's been asked to submit a biography for, say, a conference or a community newsletter will be glad to know. Often the word in these contexts is shortened to bio, a term that can be both a synonym of biography and a term for what is actually a biographical sketch: a brief description of a person's life. These kinds of biographies—bios—vary, but many times they are only a few sentences long. Looking at bios that have been used in the same context can be a useful guide in determining what to put in your own.
Examples of bio in a Sentence
Tarot.com, New York Daily News, 15 Mar. 2026
Instagram’s lack of caption linking has led people to use third-party services like Linktree, which allow creators to add external links in their bios.
—James Peckham, PC Magazine, 13 Mar. 2026
The Bronx native was appointed by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, becoming the first Black woman to hold the post, according to her bio on the New York State School Boards Association website.
—Kate Armanini, Chicago Tribune, 13 Mar. 2026
While this may confine a human’s dream of immortality to solutions that rely on technological enhancements, bio-hacking your body, or science-fiction level technology that relies on novel physical laws and/or phenomena, there’s still plenty that relativity has to say about living forever.
—Big Think, 12 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for bio
Cite this Entry
“Bio.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bio. Accessed 15 Mar. 2026.
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