Meanings
plural biopics
- broadcastingA motion picture based on the life (or lives) of a real, rather than fictional, person (or people).
1 more example
This truism helps explain why the music biopic is stuck in such a compromising loop. […] Between 2000 to 2019, 55% of leading actor and actress Oscars went to performances in a biopic. Over the past four years, the genre has been responsible for 63 Oscar nominations. Yet at the same time, hagiography has resurfaced as a pre-requisite for success. […] While one might have supposed the advent of the internet could render biopics redundant – if facts and archive footage are readily accessible, why bother making stuff up?
2026 April 26, Catherine Shoard, “Bad movies, good business: how sanitised biopics became a Hollywood staple”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2026
Origin
Clipping of biographical picture; synchronically bio + pic.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 傳記片 /传记片
- 傳記片 /传记片 (zhuànjìpiàn)biographical film
French biopic
- biopicbiographical film
Portuguese cinebiografia
- cinebiografiabiographical film
Spanish biopic
- biopicbiographical film
Cite this entry
biopic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biopic
“biopic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biopic. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “biopic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biopic.
Source: biopic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.