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documentary

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Presented objectively without the insertion of fictional matter.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

dahkyuhmehnteree

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

dɑkjəˈmɛntɚi

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. of a filmbooketc

    Presented objectively without the insertion of fictional matter.

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

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

noun

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

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

  3. uncountable

    Such works collectively, as a genre.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (of a film, book, etc) Presented objectively without the insertion of fictional matter.

Used this way, documentary is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use documentary

  • “We watched a fascinating documentary about marine life last night.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Film

documentary historydocumentary proof

Other combinations

documentary evidencedocumentary filmdocumentary materialdocumentary recorddocumentary seriesdocumentary photography

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • documentationnounDerived noun

    Confirmation that some fact or statement is true through the use of documentary evidence.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • documentary filmnounCompound term

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

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: film

docudramaRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.