autobiographical

adjective

au·​to·​bio·​graph·​i·​cal ˌȯ-tə-ˌbī-ə-ˈgra-fi-kəl 

-bē-

variants or less commonly autobiographic

ˌȯ-tə-ˌbī-ə-ˈgra-fik 

-bē-

1

a

: of, relating to, or being an autobiography

an autobiographical essay/book/novel

… the television studios began to buy the film and broadcast rights to biographical and autobiographical narratives as fast as they bought the rights to fictional ones.

—Nigel Hamilton

In recounting the exploits of some half-dozen Soviet spies, the author synthesizes much autobiographical and historical material.

—Harry Howe Ransom

This heart-wrenching, autobiographical account of Burch's childhood between ages 8 and 11 has the power of a Dickens novel.

—Booklist

b

: in the style of or based on an autobiography

Made for a pittance by the then-unknown [Martin] Scorsese, this autobiographical film about his Italian-Catholic boyhood was shot in Hollywood and on location in New York City's Little Italy.

—Robert F. Moss

2

a

: of, relating to, or influenced by one's life or past personal experiences

… so much of Wyeth's art is autobiographical, that is, stimulated and conditioned by deep personal responses to locations or people, …

—John Wilmerding

… ask her for too many autobiographical details and she begs off, insisting that her days are too ordinary for words.

—Jeff Giles

b

: of, relating, or being memory of personally experienced events in the past

Autobiographical memory, that is, memory for personally experienced past events, is central to human functioning, as it is of fundamental significance for the individual's sense of self and goal orientation.

—Elise Debeer et al.

autobiographically

ˌȯ-tə-ˌbī-ə-ˈgra-fi-k(ə-)lē 

-bē-

adverb

The male coming-of-age story, by contrast, has been plundered relentlessly. D. H. Lawrence, Tobias Wolff, J. D. Salinger and Ernest Hemingway have written autobiographically.

—Courtney Weaver

She speaks here for the first time autobiographically, having dictated this memoir in the final months of her life.

—Francis Mason

Examples of autobiographical in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Telgemeier recalls her own experience of sharing her vulnerable autobiographical comics with people for the first time. —Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 9 Apr. 2025

The assignment takes a dark turn after discovering chilling autobiographical notes. —Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 2 Apr. 2025

This cheerfully genre-crossing autobiographical novel is told in rhyming couplets with some prose sections interspersed. —Emma Alpern, Vulture, 2 Apr. 2025

But her assignment takes a dark turn after discovering chilling autobiographical notes. —Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 24 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

autobiography + -ical, after biographical

First Known Use

1807, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing autobiographical

• highly superior autobiographical memory
• semi-autobiographical

Rhymes for autobiographical

• historiographical
• iconographical
• lexicographical
• biogeographical
• biographical
• epigraphical
• ethnographical
• geographical
• petrographical
• stratigraphical
• topographical
• typographical