biography

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

|Updated on: 23 Jun 2018

Examples: biography in a Sentence

Editor's Note: So You've Been Asked to Submit a biography

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

Half-forgotten in the Trump biography, by the way, is his own attempt to become a theater producer.

— frank rich, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump’s Summit Spectacle Was Just a Momentary Distraction From His Bigger Problems," 13 June 2018
Her work digging up toothy sea monsters around the English countryside has been memorialized in book-length biographies, novels—and even a 2018 film.

— brian switek, Smithsonian, "The Many Ways Women Get Left Out of Paleontology," 8 June 2018
Books range from current fiction, children’s selections, biography, self-help and spirituality to health, history, travel and science.

— linda mcintosh, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Lake San Marcos Kiwanis Club elects officers... community news," 31 May 2018
Johnson is a legendary figure in boxing and crossed over into popular culture decades ago with biographies, dramas and documentaries following the civil rights era.

— Time, "President Trump Grants Rare Posthumous Pardon to Late Boxer Jack Johnson," 24 May 2018
Johnson is a legendary figure in boxing, whose meteoric rise and controversial prison sentence made him a symbol of racial injustice and led to numerous biographies, films and documentaries of his life over the decades.

— NBC News, "Trump grants posthumous pardon to black boxing champ Jack Johnson," 24 May 2018
Johnson is a legendary figure in boxing and crossed over into popular culture decades ago with biographies, dramas and documentaries following the civil rights era.

— jill colvin, The Seattle Times, "Trump considering pardon for late boxer Jack Johnson," 21 Apr. 2018
His biography along with other winners, will be published in the Golden Deeds Banquet program which will be distributed to the guests that evening and posted on GCFCA's website until next year's banquet.

— independencelocalschools, cleveland.com, "Independence P.E. Teacher and Football Coach to be Honored by Greater Cleveland Football Coaches Association: Community Voices," 19 Apr. 2018
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s What Happened and the Helen Gurley Brown biography, Not Pretty Enough.

— Harper's BAZAAR, "Super Mom: What Modern Motherhood Means," 16 Apr. 2018

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.