Adjacent Words

Biography definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BIOG'RAPHY, n. [Gr.life, and to write.]
The history of the life and character of a particular person.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an account of the series of events making up a person's life [syn: biography, life, life story, life history]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -phies) Etymology: Late Greek biographia, from Greek bi- + -graphia -graphy Date: 1683 1. a usually written history of a person's life 2. biographical writings as a whole 3. an account of the life of something (as an animal, a coin, or a building)

Britannica Concise

Form of nonfictional literature whose subject is the life of an individual. The earliest biographical writings probably were funeral speeches and inscriptions. The origins of modern biography lie with Plutarch's moralizing lives of prominent Greeks and Romans and Suetonius' gossipy lives of the Caesars. Few biographies of common individuals were written until the 16th cent. The major developments of English biography came in the 18th cent., with such works as J. Boswell's Life of Johnson. In modern times impatience with Victorian reticence and the development of psychoanalysis have sometimes led to a more penetrating and comprehensive understanding of biographical subjects. See also autobiography.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 a a written account of a person's life, usu. by another. b such writing as a branch of literature. 2 the course of a living (usu. human) being's life. Derivatives: biographer n. biographic adj. biographical adj. Etymology: F biographie or mod.L biographia f. med.Gk

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Biography Bi*og"ra*phy, n.; pl. Biographies. [Gr. ?; ? life + ? to write: cf. F. biographie. See Graphic.] 1. The written history of a person's life. 2. Biographical writings in general.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(biographies) 1. A biography of someone is an account of their life, written by someone else. N-COUNT: oft with poss 2. Biography is the branch of literature which deals with accounts of people's lives. ...a volume of biography and criticism.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Life, memoir, personal history. 2. Biographical writings.

Moby Thesaurus

Clio, Muse of history, adventures, annals, autobiography, biographical sketch, case history, chronicle, chronicles, chronology, confessions, curriculum vitae, diary, experiences, fortunes, hagiography, hagiology, historiography, history, journal, legend, letters, life, life and letters, life story, martyrology, memoir, memoirs, memorabilia, memorial, memorials, necrology, obit, obituary, photobiography, profile, record, resume, story, theory of history