documentary

From French adjective and (hence) noun documentaire, from document, from Latin documentum. Equivalent to document +‎ -ary.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌdɒk.jʊˈmɛn.tɹi/, /ˌdɒk.jʊˈmɛn.tə.ɹi/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌdɑ.kjəˈmɛn.tə.ɹi/, /ˌdɑ.kjəˈmɛn.tɹi/

  • Audio (Texas):

    (file)

documentary (not comparable)

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

   Synonyms: documentative, documentational

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

   Synonyms: documentative, documentational

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

   a documentary film

   • 1982 February 6, Martin Krieger, “Stark/Erotic”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 28, page 10:

     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.

documentary (countable and uncountable, plural documentaries)

1. A film, TV program, publication etc. which presents a social, political, scientific or historical subject in a factual or informative manner.
   • 2014 December 4, Brooks Barnes, Michael Cieply, “Documentaries Jostle Against Oscar Obscurity”, in The New York Times, retrieved 28 June 2015:

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

2. (uncountable) Such works collectively, as a genre.
   • 2018, Nicole Seymour, Bad Environmentalism, page 61:

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

• fiction

• cinéma vérité

• countrymade