hagiography

noun

ha·​gi·​og·​ra·​phy ˌha-gē-ˈä-grə-fē 

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

This dramatization of John F. Kennedy’s heroics during World War II was accused of hagiography when it was released, five months before Kennedy was shot in Dallas. —Will Leitch, Vulture, 17 Feb. 2025

While the majority of the night’s material was expected hagiography, the pointed self-critique was a sober reminder that a lot of SNL does not hold up. —Esther Zuckerman, The Atlantic, 17 Feb. 2025

Review Reviewed by Jessica T. Mathews January/February 2025 Published on January 7, 2025 In This Review John Lewis: A Life By David Greenberg Print Save Greenberg manages to avoid hagiography in telling the story of an exemplary life. —Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025

To further the hagiography, the script flubs its own plot points. —Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 19 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

see Hagiographa

First Known Use

1821, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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