biography

noun

bi·​og·​ra·​phy bī-ˈä-grə-fē 

 also  bē-

plural biographies

1

: a usually written history of a person's life

a new biography of Abraham Lincoln

2

: biographical writings as a whole

the genre of biography

3

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

the biography of the commonwealth

Did you know?

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.

Synonyms

• memoir
• autobiography

Examples of biography in a Sentence

a new biography of Abraham Lincoln

an unauthorized biography of the actor gave him some serious headaches

Recent Examples on the Web

Murr uses for paper the draft pages of a biography about a struggling brooding composer named Johannes Kreisler; Murr comes off as the less ridiculous and more emotionally healthy of the two. —Rivka Galchen, New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2025

Moving forward, mastering a personal podcast could replace soft-focus biographies or wonky books as a way for politicians to increase their profiles. —David Bauder, Fortune, 5 Sep. 2025

Nearly every garish flight of fancy that decorates the frame is a distraction while the majority of the film does little more than rotely dramatize Kafka’s biography. —Sam Bodrojan, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2025

The biography of Hamilton by Ron Chernow that formed the source material for the musical suggests that Hamilton was a reluctant supporter of the Alien and Sedition Acts. —Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 2 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1665, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for biography

• arthrography
• cartography
• cosmography
• cryptography
• demography
• discography
• echography
• ethnography
• filmography
• geography
• hydrography
• lithography

Kids Definition

biography

noun

bi·​og·​ra·​phy bī-ˈäg-rə-fē 

bē-

plural biographies

: a history of a person's life

biographer

-fər

noun

biographical

ˌbī-ə-ˈgraf-i-kəl

adjective

biographically

-i-k(ə-)lē

adverb