hagiography

noun

ha·​gi·​og·​ra·​phy ˌha-gē-ˈä-grə-fē How to pronounce hagiography (audio)
ˌhā-,
-jē-
1
: biography of saints or venerated persons
2
: idealizing or idolizing biography
an account that smacks of hagiography

Did you know?

The second part of hagiography is familiar: the combining form -graphy, which comes from the Greek verb graphein, meaning "to write," is found in biography and calligraphy (among many others) too. Hagio-, however, is more unusual; it comes from a Greek word that meant "holy, sacred" in Ancient Greek and more recently "saintly," by way of the term Hagiographa, another name for the Ketuvim, the third part of the Jewish Scriptures. English's hagiography can refer to biography of actual saints, but it is more typically applied to biography that treats ordinary human subjects as if they were saints.

Examples of hagiography in a Sentence

a hagiography about a famous politician The book gives a good idea of his virtues without resorting to hagiography.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
This isn’t a glossy hagiography but a complicated character study. Jeff Benjamin, Forbes.com, 1 May 2025 The piece thankfully stops short of being a hagiography of Murrow: the point is made that by stepping so far out into partisan waters as distinct from just reporting the news, the great newsman opened the door to partisan attacks on a clearly partisan media. Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune, 4 Apr. 2025 The piece thankfully stops short of being a hagiography of Murrow: the point is made therein that by stepping so far out into partisan waters as distinct from just reporting the news, the great newsman opened the door to partisan attacks on a clearly partisan media. Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 4 Apr. 2025 Running Point is thinly veiled hagiography trying to pass itself off as a middling streaming series. Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for hagiography

Word History

Etymology

see Hagiographa

First Known Use

1821, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of hagiography was in 1821

Browse Nearby Words

Podcast

Cite this Entry

“Hagiography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hagiography. Accessed 4 May. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on hagiography

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!