documentary — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Of, related to, or based on documents.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Synonyms

   documentativedocumentational

2. Which serves to document (record or illustrate) a subject.

   Usage

   • not-comparable

   Synonyms

   documentativedocumentational

3. Presented objectively without the insertion of fictional matter.

   Usage

   • not-comparable
   • of a film

   Examples

   a documentary film

   More examples (1)

   Just as there is a tradition of history painting, so there is one of history photographs — which of course are not documentary. They're posed as the world was supposed to be.

Noun

1. A film, TV program, publication etc. which presents a social, political, scientific or historical subject in a factual or informative manner.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Fifteen documentaries are in sharp-elbowed competition to be among the five Oscar nominees.

   More examples (1)

   If you watched Victoria Beckham’s lavishly produced Netflix documentary last October, you might have wondered why it didn’t even glance on the biggest elephant in Brand Beckham’s room[…]. But most big documentaries these days aren’t documentaries any more in the way previous practitioners of the craft might have understood the word. As her husband’s was before it, Victoria’s doc was a self-commissioned advertorial on which the subject also served as executive producer.

2. Such works collectively, as a genre.

   Usage

   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Such sequences draw attention to the affective appeals that environmental documentary typically makes, precisely by absenting those appeals.

Adjective

1. relating to or consisting of or derived from documents

   Synonyms

   documental

2. (of film, television, radio, or photography) depicting a real-life event using images or interviews with people involved in the event

Noun

1. a film or TV program presenting the facts about a person or event

   Synonyms

   docudramadocumentary filminfotainment

   Broader terms

   moviefilmpicturemoving picturemoving-picture showmotion picturemotion-picture showpicture showpicflick