biographer

IPA/baɪˈɒɡrəfə(r)/
KK[baɪˈɑɡrəfɚ]IPA/baɪˈɑːɡrəfər/

biographer — noun

  • biographersingular
  • biographersplural

1. a writer who researches and describes the life of a real person, usually in a bo

1.nounC1
Definition

a writer who researches and describes the life of a real person, usually in a book

Example

After months of interviews, the biographer began the actor's early chapters.

typical task: interview sources first

The queen's biographer found school photos in a locked desk drawer.

Common collocations
  • authorized biographer
  • official biographer
  • celebrity biographer
  • leading biographer
Synonyms
  • author

    very broad; it can mean any kind of book writer

  • chronicler

    more literary and often used for someone recording events over time

  • historian

    broader and often more academic; it is not limited to one person's life

  • life writer

    an academic term covering biography, memoir, and other writing about lives

Grammar Patterns

biographer of + person

authorized biographer

official biographer

Usage Note

Often used with of or a possessive to name the person being written about: a biographer of Lincoln, Lincoln's biographer. Common modifiers include authorized, official, and leading.

Common Mistakes

I bought a biographer about Audrey Hepburn.
I bought a biography about Audrey Hepburn.
'biographer' is the writer; 'biography' is the book.
Jun is writing a biographer of himself.
Jun is writing an autobiography.
a biographer writes another person's life; an autobiography is your own.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A biographer is a writer whose main job is to study and tell another person's life. Author is much broader and can describe anyone who writes a book. Historian usually focuses on larger events, periods, or groups, although historians sometimes write biographies too. Chronicler is more literary and suggests someone recording events over time, not always shaping one full life story. Memoirist is different again, because a memoirist writes from personal memory, often about their own life or one part of it. If the focus is one real person's life, biographer is the clearest word. You might call Walter Isaacson a biographer, but a singer writing about her own childhood is a memoirist.

author ↗historian ↗chronicler ↗memoirist

Common collocations

Nouns

  • authorized biographer
  • official biographer
  • celebrity biographer
  • leading biographer

Phrases

  • work as a biographer
  • become a biographer

Prepositions

  • biographer of + person

Etymology

GreekEnglish

Biographer was formed in English from biography and the suffix -er, which names a person who does an action. The older base biography comes from Greek parts meaning 'life' and 'write'. So biographer literally means a person who writes about a life.