biography

noun bi·og·ra·phy \ bī-ˈä-grə-fē also bē- \

Definition of biography

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

See biography defined for English-language learners

See biography defined for kids

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 of biography from the Web

Ron Chernow, whose Alexander Hamilton book is the basis for the Broadway musical, returns with a 900-page biography of Ulysses Grant.

— hillel italie, The Seattle Times, "Book world hopes for literary breakthrough in fall," 29 Aug. 2017
That prompted me to go find a good biography of Serra, and there weren’t any.

— john wilkens, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Kittle's book looks at three forgotten Franciscans, clash of cultures," 27 Aug. 2017
In Walter Isaacson’s 2011 biography, the Apple CEO is quoted as joking that Microsoft would be a more original company if Bill Gates, its founder, had experienced psychedelics.

— krista stevens, Longreads, "Putting Creativity on Your Tab," 22 Aug. 2017
Robert Caro won his first of two Pulitzers for The Power Broker, his exhaustive 1974 biography of Robert Moses.

— vanityfair.com, "Robert Caro, Ann Coulter, Dick Cavett, and More Weighed In on the Trump Era at East Hampton Library’s Authors Night," 14 Aug. 2017
For more scary fare (after all, Halloween is approaching), there's PBS's biography of Edgar Allen Poe (out October 30) and the return of Netflix's Stranger Things (back October 27).

— whitney friedlander, Esquire, "Fall TV Preview: Your Complete Guide to the Season's Premieres," 4 Aug. 2017
The biography Merle: A Biography of Merle Oberon exposed what seems to have been known by those in her inner circle: Oberon was Anglo-Indian.

— lisa liebman, HWD, "The Fascinating Old Hollywood Story That Inspired The Last Tycoon’s Best Plotline," 28 July 2017
Each session will include a biography of the author and background information about the novel being discussed.

— Courant Community, "Community News For The Windsor Locks Edition," 17 July 2017
Broadside Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, has acquired world rights to The Faith of Donald J. Trump: A Spiritual Biography for publication in January 2018.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "A ‘Spiritual Biography’ of Donald Trump Is in the Works. Seriously.," 14 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'biography.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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.