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Definition of biography

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So You've Been Asked to Submit a Biography

In a library, the word biography refers both to a kind of book and to a section where books of that kind are found. Each biography tells the story of a real person's life. A biography may be about someone who lived long ago, recently, or even someone who is still living, though in the last case it must necessarily be incomplete. The term autobiography refers to a biography written by the person it's about. Autobiographies are of course also necessarily incomplete.

Sometimes biographies are significantly shorter than a book—something anyone who's been asked to submit a biography for, say, a conference or a community newsletter will be glad to know. Often the word in these contexts is shortened to bio , a term that can be both a synonym of biography and a term for what is actually a biographical sketch: a brief description of a person's life. These kinds of biographies—bios—vary, but many times they are only a few sentences long. Looking at bios that have been used in the same context can be a useful guide in determining what to put in your own.

Examples of biography in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'biography.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Late Greek biographia , from Greek bi- + -graphia -graphy

1665, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Dictionary Entries Near biography

biographize

Cite this Entry

“Biography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biography. Accessed 15 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of biography, more from merriam-webster on biography.

Nglish: Translation of biography for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of biography for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about biography

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Meaning of biography in English

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• This biography offers a few glimpses of his life before he became famous .
• Her biography revealed that she was not as rich as everyone thought .
• The biography was a bit of a rush job .
• The biography is an attempt to uncover the inner man.
• The biography is woven from the many accounts which exist of things she did.
• exercise book
• novelistically
• young adult

biography | American Dictionary

• biographical

Examples of biography

Translations of biography.

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troubleshoot

to discover why something does not work effectively and help to improve it

Searching out and tracking down: talking about finding or discovering things

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[ bahy- og -r uh -fee , bee- ]

the biography of Byron by Marchand.

• an account in biographical form of an organization, society, theater, animal, etc.
• such writings collectively.
• the writing of biography as an occupation or field of endeavor.

/ baɪˈɒɡrəfɪ; ˌbaɪəˈɡræfɪkəl /

• an account of a person's life by another
• such accounts collectively
• The story of someone's life. The Life of Samuel Johnson , by James Boswell , and Abraham Lincoln , by Carl Sandburg , are two noted biographies. The story of the writer's own life is an autobiography .

Discover More

Derived forms.

• biˈographer , noun
• biographical , adjective
• ˌbioˈgraphically , adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of biography 1

Example Sentences

Barrett didn’t say anything on Tuesday to contradict our understanding of her ideological leanings based on her past rulings, past statements and biography.

Republicans, meanwhile, focused mostly on her biography — including her role as a working mother of seven and her Catholic faith — and her credentials, while offering few specifics about her record as a law professor and judge.

She delivered an inspiring biography at one point, reflecting on the sacrifice her mother made to emigrate to the United States.

As Walter Isaacson pointed out in his biography of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin proposed the postal system as a vital network to bond together the 13 disparate colonies.

Serving that end, the book is not an in-depth biography as much as a summary of Galileo’s life and science, plus a thorough recounting of the events leading up to his famous trial.

The Amazon biography for an author named Papa Faal mentions both Gambia and lists a military record that matches the FBI report.

For those unfamiliar with Michals, an annotated biography and useful essays are included.

Did you envision your Pryor biography as extending your previous investigation—aesthetically and historically?

But Stephen Kotkin's new biography reveals a learned despot who acted cunningly to take advantage of the times.

Watching novelists insult one another is one of the primary pleasures of his biography.

He also published two volumes of American Biography, a work which his death abridged.

Mme. de Chaulieu gave her husband the three children designated in the duc's biography.

The biography of great men always has been, and always will be read with interest and profit.

I like biography far better than fiction myself: fiction is too free.

The Bookman: "A more entertaining narrative whether in biography or fiction has not appeared in recent years."

Related Words

• autobiography

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Definition of biography noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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Posted on Jun 30, 2023

How to Write a Biography: A 7-Step Guide [+Template]

From time to time, nonfiction authors become so captivated by a particular figure from either the present or the past, that they feel compelled to write an entire book about their life. Whether casting them as heroes or villains, there is an interesting quality in their humanity that compels these authors to revisit their life paths and write their story.

However, portraying someone’s life on paper in a comprehensive and engaging way requires solid preparation. If you’re looking to write a biography yourself, in this post we’ll share a step-by-step blueprint that you can follow. 

How to write a biography: 

1. Seek permission when possible 

2. research your subject thoroughly, 3. do interviews and visit locations, 4. organize your findings, 5. identify a central thesis, 6. write it using narrative elements, 7. get feedback and polish the text.

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While you technically don’t need permission to write about public figures (or deceased ones), that doesn't guarantee their legal team won't pursue legal action against you. Author Kitty Kelley was sued by Frank Sinatra before she even started to write His Way , a biography that paints Ol Blue Eyes in a controversial light. (Kelley ended up winning the lawsuit, however).  

Whenever feasible, advise the subject’s representatives of your intentions. If all goes according to plan, you’ll get a green light to proceed, or potentially an offer to collaborate. It's a matter of common sense; if someone were to write a book about you, you would likely want to know about it well prior to publication. So, make a sincere effort to reach out to their PR staff to negotiate an agreement or at least a mutual understanding of the scope of your project. 

At the same time, make sure that you still retain editorial control over the project, and not end up writing a puff piece that treats its protagonist like a saint or hero. No biography can ever be entirely objective, but you should always strive for a portrayal that closely aligns with facts and reality.

If you can’t get an answer from your subject, or you’re asked not to proceed forward, you can still accept the potential repercussions and write an unauthorized biography . The “rebellious act” of publishing without consent indeed makes for great marketing, though it’ll likely bring more headaches with it too. 

✋ Please note that, like other nonfiction books, if you intend to release your biography with a publishing house , you can put together a book proposal to send to them before you even write the book. If they like it enough, they might pay you an advance to write it.  

Book Proposal Template

Craft a professional pitch for your nonfiction book with our handy template.

Once you’ve settled (or not) the permission part, it’s time to dive deep into your character’s story.  

Deep and thorough research skills are the cornerstone of every biographer worth their salt. To paint a vivid and accurate portrait of someone's life, you’ll have to gather qualitative information from a wide range of reliable sources. 

Start with the information already available, from books on your subject to archival documents, then collect new ones firsthand by interviewing people or traveling to locations. 

Browse the web and library archives

Put your researcher hat on and start consuming any piece on your subject you can find, from their Wikipedia page to news articles, interviews, TV and radio appearances, YouTube videos, podcasts, books, magazines, and any other media outlets they may have been featured in. 

Establish a system to orderly collect the information you find 一 even seemingly insignificant details can prove valuable during the writing process, so be sure to save them. 

Depending on their era, you may find most of the information readily available online, or you may need to search through university libraries for older references. 

For his landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow spent untold hours at Columbia University’s library , reading through the Hamilton family papers, visiting the New York Historical Society, as well as interviewing the archivist of the New York Stock Exchange, and so on. The research process took years, but it certainly paid off. Chernow discovered that Hamilton created the first five securities originally traded on Wall Street. This finding, among others, revealed his significant contributions to shaping the current American financial and political systems, a legacy previously often overshadowed by other founding fathers. Today Alexander Hamilton is one of the best-selling biographies of all time, and it has become a cultural phenomenon with its own dedicated musical. 

Besides reading documents about your subject, research can help you understand the world that your subject lived in. 

Try to understand their time and social environment

Many biographies show how their protagonists have had a profound impact on society through their philosophical, artistic, or scientific contributions. But at the same time, it’s worth it as a biographer to make an effort to understand how their societal and historical context influenced their life’s path and work.

An interesting example is Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World . Finding himself limited by a lack of verified detail surrounding William Shakespeare's personal life, Greenblatt, instead, employs literary interpretation and imaginative reenactments to transport readers back to the Elizabethan era. The result is a vivid (though speculative) depiction of the playwright's life, enriching our understanding of his world.

Many readers enjoy biographies that transport them to a time and place, so exploring a historical period through the lens of a character can be entertaining in its own right. The Diary of Samuel Pepys became a classic not because people were enthralled by his life as an administrator, but rather from his meticulous and vivid documentation of everyday existence during the Restoration period.

Once you’ve gotten your hands on as many secondary sources as you can find, you’ll want to go hunting for stories first-hand from people who are (or were) close to your subject.

With all the material you’ve been through, by now you should already have a pretty good picture of your protagonist. But you’ll surely have some curiosities and missing dots in their character arc to figure out, which you can only get by interviewing primary sources.

Interview friends and associates

This part is more relevant if your subject is contemporary, and you can actually meet up or call with relatives, friends, colleagues, business partners, neighbors, or any other person related to them. 

In writing the popular biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson interviewed more than one hundred people, including Jobs’s family, colleagues, former college mates, business rivals, and the man himself.

🔍 Read other biographies to get a sense of what makes a great one. Check out our list of the 30 best biographies of all time , or take our 30-second quiz below for tips on which one you should read next. 

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

When you conduct your interviews, make sure to record them with high quality audio you can revisit later. Then use tools like Otter.ai or Descript to transcribe them 一 it’ll save you countless hours. 

You can approach the interview with a specific set of questions, or follow your curiosity blindly, trying to uncover revealing stories and anecdotes about your subject. Whatever your method, author and biography editor Tom Bromley suggests that every interviewer arrives prepared, "Show that you’ve done your work. This will help to put the interviewee at ease, and get their best answers.” 

Bromley also places emphasis on the order in which you conduct interviews. “You may want to interview different members of the family or friends first, to get their perspective on something, and then go directly to the main interviewee. You'll be able to use that knowledge to ask sharper, more specific questions.” 

Finally, consider how much time you have with each interviewee. If you only have a 30-minute phone call with an important person, make it count by asking directly the most pressing questions you have. And, if you find a reliable source who is also particularly willing to help, conduct several interviews and ask them, if appropriate, to write a foreword as part of the book’s front matter .

Sometimes an important part of the process is packing your bags, getting on a plane, and personally visiting significant places in your character’s journey.

Visit significant places in their life

A place, whether that’s a city, a rural house, or a bodhi tree, can carry a particular energy that you can only truly experience by being there. In putting the pieces together about someone’s life, it may be useful to go visit where they grew up, or where other significant events of their lives happened. It will be easier to imagine what they experienced, and better tell their story. 

In researching The Lost City of Z , author David Grann embarked on a trek through the Amazon, retracing the steps of British explorer Percy Fawcett. This led Grann to develop new theories about the circumstances surrounding the explorer's disappearance.

Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with jaguars and anacondas to better understand your subject’s environment, but try to walk into their shoes as much as possible. 

Once you’ve researched your character enough, it’s time to put together all the puzzle pieces you collected so far. 

Take the bulk of notes, media, and other documents you’ve collected, and start to give them some order and structure. A simple way to do this is by creating a timeline. 

Create a chronological timeline

It helps to organize your notes chronologically 一 from childhood to the senior years, line up the most significant events of your subject’s life, including dates, places, names and other relevant bits. 

You should be able to divide their life into distinct periods, each with their unique events and significance. Based on that, you can start drafting an outline of the narrative you want to create.  

Draft a story outline 

Since a biography entails writing about a person’s entire life, it will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can pick where you want to end the story, depending on how consequential the last years of your subject were. But the nature of the work will give you a starting character arc to work with. 

To outline the story then, you could turn to the popular Three-Act Structure , which divides the narrative in three main parts. In a nutshell, you’ll want to make sure to have the following:

• Act 1. Setup : Introduce the protagonist's background and the turning points that set them on a path to achieve a goal. 
• Act 2. Confrontation : Describe the challenges they encounter, both internal and external, and how they rise to them. Then..
• Act 3. Resolution : Reach a climactic point in their story in which they succeed (or fail), showing how they (and the world around them) have changed as a result. 

Only one question remains before you begin writing: what will be the main focus of your biography?

Think about why you’re so drawn to your subject to dedicate years of your life to recounting their own. What aspect of their life do you want to highlight? Is it their evil nature, artistic genius, or visionary mindset? And what evidence have you got to back that up? Find a central thesis or focus to weave as the main thread throughout your narrative. 

Or find a unique angle

If you don’t have a particular theme to explore, finding a distinct angle on your subject’s story can also help you distinguish your work from other biographies or existing works on the same subject.

Plenty of biographies have been published about The Beatles 一 many of which have different focuses and approaches: 

• Philip Norman's Shout is sometimes regarded as leaning more towards a pro-Lennon and anti-McCartney stance, offering insights into the band's inner dynamics. 
• Ian McDonald's Revolution in the Head closely examines their music track by track, shifting the focus back to McCartney as a primary creative force. 
• Craig Brown's One Two Three Four aims to capture their story through anecdotes, fan letters, diary entries, and interviews. 
• Mark Lewisohn's monumental three-volume biography, Tune In , stands as a testament to over a decade of meticulous research, chronicling every intricate detail of the Beatles' journey.

Finally, consider that biographies are often more than recounting the life of a person. Similar to how Dickens’ Great Expectations is not solely about a boy named Pip (but an examination and critique of Britain’s fickle, unforgiving class system), a biography should strive to illuminate a broader truth — be it social, political, or human — beyond the immediate subject of the book. 

Once you’ve identified your main focus or angle, it’s time to write a great story. 

While biographies are often highly informative, they do not have to be dry and purely expository in nature . You can play with storytelling elements to make it an engaging read. 

You could do that by thoroughly detailing the setting of the story , depicting the people involved in the story as fully-fledged characters , or using rising action and building to a climax when describing a particularly significant milestone of the subject’s life. 

One common way to make a biography interesting to read is starting on a strong foot…

Hook the reader from the start

Just because you're honoring your character's whole life doesn't mean you have to begin when they said their first word. Starting from the middle or end of their life can be more captivating as it introduces conflicts and stakes that shaped their journey.

When he wrote about Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild , author Jon Krakauer didn’t open his subject’s childhood and abusive family environment. Instead, the book begins with McCandless hitchhiking his way into the wilderness, and subsequently being discovered dead in an abandoned bus. By starting in medias res , Krakauer hooks the reader’s interest, before tracing back the causes and motivations that led McCandless to die alone in that bus in the first place.

You can bend the timeline to improve the reader’s reading experience throughout the rest of the story too…

Play with flashback 

While biographies tend to follow a chronological narrative, you can use flashbacks to tell brief stories or anecdotes when appropriate. For example, if you were telling the story of footballer Lionel Messi, before the climax of winning the World Cup with Argentina, you could recall when he was just 13 years old, giving an interview to a local newspaper, expressing his lifelong dream of playing for the national team. 

Used sparsely and intentionally, flashbacks can add more context to the story and keep the narrative interesting. Just like including dialogue does…

Reimagine conversations

Recreating conversations that your subject had with people around them is another effective way to color the story. Dialogue helps the reader imagine the story like a movie, providing a deeper sensory experience. 

One thing is trying to articulate the root of Steve Jobs’ obsession with product design, another would be to quote his father , teaching him how to build a fence when he was young: “You've got to make the back of the fence just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know. And that will show that you're dedicated to making something perfect.”

Unlike memoirs and autobiographies, in which the author tells the story from their personal viewpoint and enjoys greater freedom to recall conversations, biographies require a commitment to facts. So, when recreating dialogue, try to quote directly from reliable sources like personal diaries, emails, and text messages. You could also use your interview scripts as an alternative to dialogue. As Tom Bromley suggests, “If you talk with a good amount of people, you can try to tell the story from their perspective, interweaving different segments and quoting the interviewees directly.”

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These are just some of the story elements you can use to make your biography more compelling. Once you’ve finished your manuscript, it’s a good idea to ask for feedback. 

If you’re going to self-publish your biography, you’ll have to polish it to professional standards. After leaving your work to rest for a while, look at it with fresh eyes and self-edit your manuscript eliminating passive voice, filler words, and redundant adverbs. 

Then, have a professional editor give you a general assessment. They’ll look at the structure and shape of your manuscript and tell you which parts need to be expanded on or cut. As someone who edited and commissioned several biographies, Tom Bromley points out that a professional “will look at the sources used and assess whether they back up the points made, or if more are needed. They would also look for context, and whether or not more background information is needed for the reader to understand the story fully. And they might check your facts, too.”  

In addition to structural editing, you may want to have someone copy-edit and proofread your work.

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Importantly, make sure to include a bibliography with a list of all the interviews, documents, and sources used in the writing process. You’ll have to compile it according to a manual of style, but you can easily create one by using tools like EasyBib . Once the text is nicely polished and typeset in your writing software , you can prepare for the publication process.  

In conclusion, by mixing storytelling elements with diligent research, you’ll be able to breathe life into a powerful biography that immerses readers in another individual’s life experience. Whether that’ll spark inspiration or controversy, remember you could have an important role in shaping their legacy 一 and that’s something not to take lightly. 

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Definition of 'biography'

biography in British English

Biography in american english, examples of 'biography' in a sentence biography, cobuild collocations biography, trends of biography.

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Literary devices, terms, and elements, definition of biography.

A biography is a description of a real person’s life, including factual details as well as stories from the person’s life. Biographies usually include information about the subject’s personality and motivations, and other kinds of intimate details excluded in a general overview or profile of a person’s life. The vast majority of biography examples are written about people who are or were famous, such as politicians, actors, athletes, and so on. However, some biographies can be written about people who lived incredible lives, but were not necessarily well-known. A biography can be labelled “authorized” if the person being written about, or his or her family members, have given permission for a certain author to write the biography.

The word biography comes from the Greek words bios , meaning “life” and – graphia , meaning “writing.”

Difference Between Biography and Autobiography

A biography is a description of a life that is not the author’s own, while an autobiography is the description of a writer’s own life. There can be some gray area, however, in the definition of biography when a ghostwriter is employed. A ghostwriter is an author who helps in the creation of a book, either collaborating with someone else or doing all of the writing him- or herself. Some famous people ask for the help of a ghostwriter to create their own autobiographies if they are not particularly gifted at writing but want the story to sound like it’s coming from their own mouths. In the case of a ghostwritten autobiography, the writer is not actually writing about his or her own life, but has enough input from the subject to create a work that is very close to the person’s experience.

Common Examples of Biography

The genre of biography is so popular that there is even a cable network originally devoted to telling the stories of famous people’s lives (fittingly called The Biography Channel). The stories proved to be such good television that other networks caught on, such as VH1 producing biographies under the series name “Behind the Music.” Some examples of written biographies have become famous in their own right, such as the following books:

• Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (made even more famous by the musical “Hamilton,” created by Lin-Manuel Miranda)
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
• Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
• Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson

Significance of Biography in Literature

The genre of biography developed out of other forms of historical nonfiction, choosing to focus on one specific person’s experience rather than all important players. There are examples of biography all the way back to 44 B.C. when Roman biographer Cornelius Nepos wrote Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae (“Lives of those capable of commanding”). The Greek historian Plutarch was also famous for his biographies, creating a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans in his book Parallel Lives . After the printing press was created, one of the first “bestsellers” was the 1550 famous biography Lives of the Artists by Giorgio Vasari. Biography then got very popular in the 18th century with James Boswell’s 1791 publication of The Life of Samuel Johnson . Biography continues to be one of the best selling genres in literature, and has led to a number of literary prizes specifically for this form.

Examples of Biography in Literature

And I can imagine Farmer saying he doesn’t care if no one else is willing to follow their example. He’s still going to make these hikes, he’d insist, because if you say that seven hours is too long to walk for two families of patients, you’re saying that their lives matter less than some others’, and the idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that’s wrong with the world.

( Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder)

Tracy Kidder’s wonderful example of biography, Mountains Beyond Mountains , brought the work of Dr. Paul Farmer to a wider audience. Dr. Farmer cofounded the organization Partners in Health (PIH) in 1987 to provide free treatment to patients in Haiti; the organization later created similar projects in countries such as Russia, Peru, and Rwanda. Dr. Farmer was not necessarily a famous man before Tracy Kidder’s biography was published, though he was well-regarded in his own field. The biography describes Farmer’s work as well as some of his personal life.

On July 2, McCandless finished reading Tolstoy’s “Family Happiness”, having marked several passages that moved him: “He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others…” Then, on July 3, he shouldered his backpack and began the twenty-mile hike to the improved road. Two days later, halfway there, he arrived in heavy rain at the beaver ponds that blocked access to the west bank of the Teklanika River. In April they’d been frozen over and hadn’t presented an obstacle. Now he must have been alarmed to find a three-acre lake covering the trail.

( Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer)

Jon Krakauer is a writer and outdoorsman famous for many nonfiction books, including his own experience in a mountaineering disaster on Mount Everest in 1996. His book Into the Wild is a nonfiction biography of a young boy, Christopher McCandless who chose to donate all of his money and go into the wilderness in the American West. McCandless starved to death in Denali National Park in 1992. The biography delved into the facts surrounding McCandless’s death, as well as incorporating some of Krakauer’s own experience.

A commanding woman versed in politics, diplomacy, and governance; fluent in nine languages; silver-tongued and charismatic, Cleopatra nonetheless seems the joint creation of Roman propagandists and Hollywood directors.

( Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff)

Stacy Schiff wrote a new biography of Cleopatra in 2010 in order to divide fact from fiction, and go back to the amazing and intriguing personality of the woman herself. The biography was very well received for being both scrupulously referenced as well as highly literary and imaginative.

Confident that he was clever, resourceful, and bold enough to escape any predicament, [Louie] was almost incapable of discouragement. When history carried him into war, this resilient optimism would define him.

( Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand)

Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling biography Unbroken covers the life of Louis “Louie” Zamperini, who lived through almost unbelievable circumstances, including running in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, being shot down as a bomber in WWII, surviving in a raft in the ocean for 47 days, and then surviving Japanese prisoner of war camps. Zamperini’s life story is one of those narratives that is “stranger than fiction” and Hillenbrand brings the drama brilliantly to the reader.

I remember sitting in his backyard in his garden, one day, and he started talking about God. He [Jobs] said, “ Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don’t. I think it’s 50/50, maybe. But ever since I’ve had cancer, I’ve been thinking about it more, and I find myself believing a bit more, maybe it’s because I want to believe in an afterlife, that when you die, it doesn’t just all disappear. The wisdom you’ve accumulated, somehow it lives on.”

( Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson)

Steve Jobs is one of the most famous cultural icons of modern-day America and, indeed, around the world, and thus his biography was eagerly awaited. The author, Walter Isaacson, was able to interview Jobs extensively during the writing process. Thus, the above excerpt is possible where the writer is a character in the story himself, asking Jobs about his views on life and philosophy of the world.

Test Your Knowledge of Biography

1. Which of the following statements is the best biography definition? A. A retelling of one small moment from another person’s life. B. A novel which details one specific character’s full life. C. A description of a real person’s entire life, written by someone else. [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #1″] Answer: C is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

2. Which of the following scenarios qualifies as a biography? A. A famous person contracts a ghostwriter to create an autobiography. B. A famous author writes the true and incredible life story of a little known person. C. A writer creates a book detailing the most important moments in her own life. [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #2″] Answer: B is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

3. Which of the following statements is true? A. Biographies are one of the best selling genres in contemporary literature. B. Biographies are always written about famous people. C. Biographies were first written in the 18th century. [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #3″] Answer: A is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

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biography noun

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What does the noun biography mean?

There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun biography . See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

How common is the noun biography ?

How is the noun biography pronounced, british english, u.s. english, where does the noun biography come from.

Earliest known use

The earliest known use of the noun biography is in the mid 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for biography is from 1661, in the writing of John Fell, bishop of Oxford.

biography is a borrowing from Latin.

Etymons: Latin biographia .

Nearby entries

• biognosy, n. 1880
• biograph, n. 1825–
• biograph, v. 1776–
• biographee, n. 1812–
• biographer, n. 1644–
• biographic, adj. 1752–
• biographical, adj. 1668–
• biographically, adv. ?1719–
• biographist, n. a1661–
• biographize, v. 1793–
• biography, n. 1661–
• biography, v. 1794–
• biographying, n. 1858–
• biohacker, n. 1988–
• biohacking, n. 1992–
• biohazard, n. 1965–
• biohazardous, adj. 1973–
• bioherm, n. 1928–
• biohermal, adj. 1937–
• bioidentical, adj. 1995–
• bioimaging, n. 1983–

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Meaning & use

Pronunciation, compounds & derived words, entry history for biography, n..

biography, n. was revised in November 2010.

biography, n. was last modified in July 2023.

oed.com is a living text, updated every three months. Modifications may include:

• further revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
• new senses, phrases, and quotations.

Revisions and additions of this kind were last incorporated into biography, n. in July 2023.

Earlier versions of this entry were published in:

OED First Edition (1887)

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OED Second Edition (1989)

• View biography, n. in OED Second Edition

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How Empathic Listening Can Build Deeper Connections in Your Life

How to put down the distractions and really listen.

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Dr. Sabrina Romanoff, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a professor at Yeshiva University’s clinical psychology doctoral program.

Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision/Getty

Benefits of Empathetic Listening

How do you show empathetic listening, what are the four skills of empathetic listening, examples of what empathetic listening sounds like, tips for developing empathic listening skills.

Communication skills are the building blocks of good relationships , from interacting successfully in the workplace to connecting with our closest loved ones. What we say and how we say it is vital, but listening is one aspect of the communication puzzle that matters just as much. Not just listening to hear but listening to understand in a way that makes others feel seen and heard—a skill known as empathetic listening.

Empathic listening—or empathetic listening—is rooted in compassion that involves much more than just listening to people's words. This powerful skill focuses on understanding the emotions and meaning behind what people say (as well as what they might not be saying).

"Empathic listening is an art. It’s the art of listening to someone in such a way that they feel truly heard, deeply understood, and genuinely cared for," explains Carl Nassar, Ph.D, LPC, CIP, CIIPTS . "When you empathically listen, you’re giving someone a gift—the gift of bring seen and the gift of feeling known."

It’s all about forging connections and relating to people as individuals with unique needs, emotions, opinions, and experiences. Relationships are stronger when we feel like we are being heard and understood. It helps forge trust and create a safe space for authentic connection and understanding.

At a Glance

How often do we listen to what people say without really digging deeper to understand what they mean? Or listen only so we know when it's our turn to talk?

Empathetic listening can open up your communication with others and forge closer connections and more meaningful relationships. Instead of listening to respond, it's all about listening to understand.

By keeping an open mind and approaching conversations with empathy and curiosity, you can learn more about other people's perspectives and experiences, opening up a world of deeper, more meaningful connections.

"Empathic listening is possibly one of the most powerful experiences a person can give or receive. The concept of being truly heard gives us a deep sense that we matter as individuals," explains Kelsey Latimer, PhD, CEDS-S, BSN/RN .

Becoming a more empathetic listener has a number of benefits.

You’ll Understand People More

When we listen with the goal of understanding others' perspectives, experiences, and emotions, we can develop a greater appreciation and understanding of where they are coming from and what they are trying to convey.

You’ll Find Better Ways to Resolve Conflicts

Empathetic listening helps facilitate conversations that resolve conflicts in mutually satisfying ways. Focusing on the emotions and feelings behind what people are saying adds greater nuance to what they say verbally.

You're more likely to pick up on cues you might have otherwise missed, which can cut down on miscommunications and mixed signals.

You’ll Have Stronger Relationships

Showing empathy to others fosters greater rapport and trust. People feel comfortable sharing how they feel, creating more authentic conversations and deeper connections in personal and professional relationships.

You’ll Build Deeper Connections

Nassar notes that empathetic listening requires us to tune out distractions and focus on other people, a skill that can help us feel more connected with others and with the world around us.

"We live in a go-go world where everything and everyone around us seems to move at a breakneck speed, hurrying from one task to the next," he says.

All too often, when we do take a moment to pause, we end up picking up our phones to scroll or respond to some notification. It's a cycle that keeps us busy, but also distracts us from building meaningful human connections.

Empathic listening asks us to slow down, because listening to someone, really listening to them, requires that we slow down enough to offer up our complete attention.

When you listen empathetically, you not just trying to understand the content of what is said so that you can respond. In conversations, listening with empathy can help others feel welcomed, safe, and heard. When people feel comfortable, they are more comfortable expressing themselves freely and openly.

Pay Attention to Subtle Signals

When you engage in empathetic listening, you pay attention not only to the words people say, but also to their body language, tone of voice, and subtle changes in facial expressions. Such signals can add nuance to what people are saying so that you can better interpret what they mean and how they feel.

Try to See Things From Their Point of View

Empathetic listening is all about trying to understand the other person's perspective. This means imagining yourself in their place, walking a mile in their shoes, and feeling what they feel. Consider it your 'emotional radar' that allows you to pick up on spoken and unspoken signals.

Recalling similar situations from your own life can help you place yourself in their shoes.

"Imagine a situation you were once in, a situation that was similar to the one you’re listening to," Nassar suggests. "Let yourself feel what it was like to be there, and tell yourself this is what the person you’re listening to is most likely feeling as well."

Be Present in the Moment

Don’t worry about how you will respond or what arguments you will present. Focusing on being fully present in the conversation can make for a heartfelt dialogue. Again, think about conversations you've had in the past—how did it make you feel when someone wasn't listening to you or wasn't fully engaged with a conversation that was important to you? Stay present.

Validate Their Emotion

Listen without judging what the other person says or interrupting to add your own commentary. Convey your interest and empathy through your facial expressions and body language. Use non-verbal cues such as nods, smiles, and facial expressions to show encouragement and understanding.

Reflect on What They Say

When we listen reflectively, we listen more than we respond. When we do talk, we restate what has been said or validate the speaker's emotions.

For example, you might say something like, "So what you are saying is..." or "I can understand how that would be upsetting." The goal is to reflect but not interject questions or opinions.

Be Patient and Respectful

Don’t try to rush the other person. Let them speak at their own pace, and recognize that it might be challenging if they are sharing something difficult. 

"Empathic listening does not mean we need to agree,” Latimer explains. "We can hear and empathize without agreeing with someone, as agreeing with them is not always the most supportive thing to do."

Even if you don’t agree with what they are say, make sure that you avoid expressing judgment. Remember that each person’s lived experience is different from your own. Just because you haven’t experienced the same thing does not mean they haven’t.

Empathetic listening involves many different skills. Such abilities can be roughly categorized into four main components:

Active Listening

Active listening is an essential part of being an empathetic listener. The goal of active listening is to listen not only to the words people say but to truly understand the meaning and intentions that lie behind them.

Important aspects of active listening include being fully present, using good body language, and giving verbal cues to convey your interest.

Reflective Responding

When we listen reflectively, we paraphrase or summarize what the other person is saying to ensure we truly understand what they mean. Rather than making assumptions, we reflect back on what they've said to show that we are listening and confirm their meaning.

You might use phrases such as "Let me make sure I've got this right..." or "So what you mean is..."

Empathy is about more than showing sympathy; it involves truly tuning into someone else's emotions and experiences and imagining yourself in their shoes. When we listen with empathy, we show people that we really get what they are saying and we genuinely care.

Non-Verbal Signals

Our non-verbal communication plays a vital role in empathetic listening.

This listening experience is often felt more by the nonverbal expression of leaning in, showing true interest without distraction, and asking more when appropriate. “I hear you” is something so many people need to feel and hear.

Good eye contact shows interest and understanding. Welcoming posture and friendly facial expressions can help the other person feel comfortable and safe to share how they feel.

All four of these skills help foster an environment of trust, safety, support, and understanding. People feel like what they say has value and their feelings are truly being heard.

It can be helpful to consider some examples of things you might say to show support and empathy when listening to others. These phrases can be used to convey different aspects of empathetic listening.

To validate what people are feeling, you might say:

• "What you're feeling is totally valid."
• "It's understandable that you would feel that way."
• "I can see why that would be really challenging."
• "That sounds really hard."

To reflect on what people are saying:

• "If I understand correctly, what you are saying is that..."
• "Let me make sure I've got this right; what you mean is that..."
• "In other words, you're saying that..."

To encourage them to share more, you might say:

• "I'm really interested in hearing your feelings on this."
• "Take as long as you need; I'm here to listen."
• "Please, let me know your thoughts on this."

To show empathy and understanding, you might say:

• "It sounds like you're dealing with a lot."
• "I'm here for you."
• "I want to understand what you're going through."
• "Thank you for trusting me with this."
• "I'm sorry you’re dealing with that."
• "I'd feel the same way if that happened to me."

To show support, you might say:

• "You're not alone in this; I'm here to support you."
• "I want to support you in any way I can."
• "We'll get through this together."

These types of phrases help show empathy, validate the speaker's emotions , and create a supportive space where people feel safe sharing their thoughts and feelings. You should choose responses that are specific to the situation and the individual's needs.

We can foster greater understanding and closer relationships when we listen to people with care, concern, and an open mind. Here are a few tips to strengthen your empathetic listening abilities:

Practice Letting Go of Judgments

Approach the conversation with an open mind . If you react negatively or want to interject your opinions, try to let go of those thoughts and judgments.

Of course, that’s sometimes easier said than done. We all make judgments each day. It takes effort to let go of that kind of scrutiny and accept people as they are. Practicing kindness and empathy can be a powerful antidote to feelings of judgment. 

When you feel tempted to judge, try to replace it with curiosity. Instead of wondering how a person can think that way, ask yourself why they might feel that way. Getting curious about their motivations and experiences can add even more depth and nuance to your understanding

The goal of empathetic listening is to understand the other person's perspective. If you stifle their thoughts by asserting your own, they will likely shut down and stop sharing.

Even if you don't agree with them or if their experience is different from yours,  that does not mean it is any less valid. Showing people that you care about them doesn't require you to agree with them or approve of their actions. You just need to be willing to listen.

Try Loving-Kindness Meditation

Loving-kindness meditation is a specific form of meditation that can help foster a greater sense of connection and acceptance of others. 

It's a practice that starts by seeing yourself with complete compassion and then shifting your focus toward other people in your life. 

Research has found that practicing loving-kindness meditation can help people become more forgiving of others. It also improves empathy and emotional processing in the brain.

People who engage in this type of mediation tend to be more compassionate, helpful, and empathetic. One study found it could also help decrease implicit bias against stigmatized minority groups.

While it may take some time and practice, adding loving-kindness meditation to your regular self-care routine may help make you a more empathetic listener.

Practice Patience

To be an empathetic listener, you also need to practice being a patient listener . It can take time for someone to get to the point or put their feelings into words. 

Sitting with silence and waiting for them to speak on their own terms isn't always easy. You might be tempted to fill the silence with your own thoughts, platitudes, or attempts to solve their problems.

When you do this, the other person will feel rushed or dismissed. While it can be hard to get used to, consciously embrace those moments of silence. Let them gather their thoughts and show your encouragement in other ways, such as body language or facial expressions . 

Remember that a pause doesn't mean the conversation is over. It just means they need a moment to reflect before moving forward.

Know How to Respond

Of course, a conversation involves more than just listening. Once a person has said their piece and it's your turn to speak, remember to reflect on what they have said. You can keep the conversation going by asking open-ended questions, encouraging them to share more, or making clarifying comments to help improve your understanding.

Once the conversation is finished, let them know how much you appreciate them sharing their thoughts with you. Remind them that you care and that you'll be there to support them, both now and in the future. You can make the connection even stronger by planning to talk again soon.

The key, Nassar suggests, is to make sure these words come from the heart and show that you understand and care. This, he says, is what makes empathetic listening such a powerful communication tool.

Archer E, Meyer IS. Applying empathic communication skills in clinical practice: Medical students' experiences .  S Afr Fam Pract (2004) . 2021;63(1):e1-e5. doi:10.4102/safp.v63i1.5244

Pehrson C, Banerjee SC, Manna R, et al. Responding empathically to patients: Development, implementation, and evaluation of a communication skills training module for oncology nurses .  Patient Educ Couns . 2016;99(4):610-616. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2015.11.021

Hofmann SG, Grossman P, Hinton DE. Loving-kindness and compassion meditation: potential for psychological interventions . Clin Psychol Rev . 2011;31(7):1126-32. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2011.07.003

Hutcherson CA, Seppala EM, Gross JJ. The neural correlates of social connection . Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci . 2015;15(1):1-14. doi:10.3758/s13415-014-0304-9

Kang Y, Gray JR, Dovidio JF. The nondiscriminating heart: loving kindness meditation training decreases implicit intergroup bias . J Exp Psychol Gen . 2014;143(3):1306-1313. doi:10.1037/a0034150

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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How to Rethink Your Career as an Empty Nester

Don’t wait until the kids are gone to plan for what’s next.

When children leave the house for college or other opportunities, the sudden change and loss of predictability can be disruptive for working parents and their careers. It’s common for parents to feel grief when kids leave the house. Perhaps you’ve been caught unaware: you haven’t fully anticipated this time and season, and now your life looks like a blank canvas. How do you fill it? If you’re an empty nester (or will be soon), this article offers some questions for you to reflect on and strategies help you re-shape your life and find meaning — both personally and professionally — during this time.

As you progress through your career, you’ll no doubt encounter some major milestones and transition points that might spur you to pause and reassess the path that you’re on. One such milestone that affects working parents is becoming an empty nester. When children leave the house for college or other opportunities, so go predictable routines that order much of family life: sports practices and games, concerts, special school events, etc. What happens with all that time once your children move out? The sudden change and loss of predictability can be disruptive, both for your home life and your career.

• AS Anne Sugar is an executive coach and speaker who works with senior leaders in technology, marketing, and pharmaceutical companies. She is an executive coach for the Harvard Business School Executive Program and has guest lectured at MIT. You can reach her at annesugar.com .

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How Everyday Rituals Can Add Meaning to Your Life

Are there things that you do in certain settings, at particular times, that evoke a feeling and remind you of what is important? When I step up to bat in softball, I tap the bat twice just past the plate, “squish the bug” with my back foot, and pinch the brim of my cap. I jiggle a ribbon with little charms on it that hangs from my rearview mirror before starting to drive—and more vigorously after a near miss. As monthly as I can manage, I walk with my kids and siblings to a special hill to watch the full moon rise, eat round cookies, drink hot tea from a thermos, and honor my late mother.

A 2002 article by Barbara Fiese in the Journal of Family Psychology concluded that people who engaged in more routines and rituals felt more competent at parenting and more satisfied with their marriages, and had children who were more well-adjusted. Other evidence suggests that rituals bring people together through physically synchronous behaviors, shared beliefs and aspirations, and a warmhearted blend of humility and common humanity.

In his new book, The Ritual Effect: From Habit to Ritual, Harness the Surprising Power of Everyday Actions , Harvard Business School professor Michael Norton shares the real benefits to cultivating and regularly engaging in rituals. I spoke with Norton about what that looks like in our lives and at work.

Emiliana Simon-Thomas: What is a ritual? How do you even define the term?

Michael Norton: The thing that comes to mind if we say the word ritual is people in robes, candles, chanting, maybe in the mountains somewhere. And those are rituals, for sure, but the kind that I got really interested in are mainly the ones that are a little more everyday, particularly those that we make up ourselves. They’re often extremely mundane, but we imbue them with a lot of meaning.

The very same boring task can be just that—a task or a habit—or if it takes on a special meaning, then it can start to become a ritual. I was talking to athletes the other day, and I asked them: “How do you tie your shoes?” All of them had a very specific way of tying their shoes, which shoe first and the laces and how tight. And then I asked: “How do you feel if you do it a different way?” And they were like: “I never have.”

When you get more emotion and more meaning, that’s when things move away from a dry habit—it’s more than just getting the thing done. It’s how you do it and how you feel about it.

EST: Why is having a ritual instead of a habit or routine helpful? Why is it good for well-being?

MN: If your habits are just habits and you just go through them like a robot, every single day, always get up at 6, then always go for this run for this amount of time, always eat lettuce, whatever it might be, it’s an emotionless day. If you lived a whole life like that, I think you might look back and be like, I wish I had done more different things than just perfect habits .

Adding ritual to those things fills them with emotion. All of a sudden, tying your shoes makes you feel like “I’m gonna win this race!” But if you can’t tie your shoes the way you want, then you feel off. So you can’t just add rituals to life and then you’ll be happy for the rest of your days. When we add rituals to our lives, they come with real possibilities, but also some drawbacks. Rituals don’t always help, and sometimes they can get in the way.

There’s some very cool research on baseball players when they’re at bat. On average, this sample of baseball players made 83 distinct movements before each swing: touching their hat, adjusting their batting gloves and the bat, and all this stuff. They’re doing these rituals that they’ve been doing for years to feel like, OK, I’m ready. Now I can hit a 100-mile-an-hour fastball . That’s a hard thing to get amped up for. There’s a story of a baseball prospect and the scouts basically said, “This guy has so many pre-at-bat rituals that he can’t get out of his head.” If you kept doing them while the pitch came in, obviously you strike out, right? So we know there’s a limit on rituals where they get to be interfering rather than beneficial.

EST: It sounds like rituals help when they’re calming in contexts where there’s uncertainty. Is this why rituals are so prominent in religious and spiritual contexts—because they’re about mysteries of what it means to be human and alive?

MN: Yes, I do think that we turn to rituals when there is more stress and more uncertainty. There’s really fascinating research on rain dances across cultures, across the world. You see that partly it’s predicted by not just regions that don’t have a lot of rain, but regions that have a lot of weather variability. If there’s never any rain, we can just plan that we’re just never going to have rain. But if maybe we’ll have a lot of rain, maybe we’ll have no rain—that kind of uncertainty—those are the cultures where these kinds of practices are most likely to emerge.

EST: Can you tell me about rituals in workplaces? Does ambiguity of the marketplace ever prompt something akin to a rain dance?

MN: At the New York Stock Exchange, there’s the ringing of the bell, where different groups come in and sometimes celebrities come in—a “let’s bless the day by the ceremonial ringing of the bell.”

Rituals can come into play even in contexts that are supposed to be rational and financial. But the main place we see rituals at work is actually in teams, and then also how people leave work behind at the end of the day. If we just ask people, “Do you and your team have any activities that you do regularly that are special, that are unique to your team?,” teams that say yes tend to report that they find their work more meaningful than teams that don’t have something like that.

EST: How would you recommend a company create a new ritual that would yield these benefits?

MN: The rituals that employees tend to tell us about are ones they came up with themselves. It’s less that I would go to a company and say, “The research shows that if you do seven stomps and 12 claps, that’s the key thing everybody needs to do,” because that’s not what we see. Instead, give people space and time to see if they have a ritual already. You can ask them, “What do you do when you start meetings? What do you do for lunch? Or do you have any inside jokes?”

There’s usually a culture on teams, and you can give them the space to come up with it themselves. First off, it’s more fun, but also it’s less mandated and it comes from them instead of from management.

EST: Let’s imagine there’s an energized employee who has rituals and fulfillment at work, and then they drive home and their home life feels very mundane and tedious. Do rituals also enrich personal relationships?

MN: Even on the way home, we see people engaging in rituals to try to separate work from their home life because we’re supposed to be a different person in those two contexts. We also want to leave work behind—the stress and the worries—so that we can be present with our family.

We did some research with emergency room nurses. We asked them, “What do you do at the end of the day?” And they had some very elaborate rituals to try to leave work behind. One person came home, always took a shower, and had a beer in the shower. They imagined as the water swirled down the drain that the hospital and the stress were swirling down the drain, as well. People who do these kinds of activities have a little bit better separation between work and home.

We ask couples and families the exact same question that we ask teams at work, which is, “Do you have something that you make sure to do regularly, that’s very special to you, that’s unique from other couples or families?” My favorite couple has this ritual where before they eat, they clink their forks together, which is so random. What could be more boring than a fork? But they’ve turned it into this cute little thing that nobody else does.

Looking at the data, couples that say they do those things report higher relationship satisfaction than couples that don’t. And we see the same thing with families. If we ask about Thanksgiving, people who say they have rituals are both more likely to keep gathering as a family, and the day is less stressful. 
 In my family, we do gratitude at the beginning of every dinner: “What are you grateful for?” Other families do other things; some families call out a win that they had that day and celebrate it. With these little rituals, you’re signaling that you’re a family, you’re signaling who you are as a family, and what you value and that you love each other.

We don’t know, however, if it’s families who already like each other who create rituals [or vice versa]. But you do see this really strong signal that when rituals are present, they’re associated with benefits for not just us as individuals, but our romantic partner and our kids, as well.

EST: What about life transitions or formative moments—is that a time when people are more likely to have certain kinds of rituals, and do those help?

MN: Sometimes people say, “I don’t have any rituals.” But I’ll ask them, “Have you ever finished something and then for some reason got a really ugly-looking robe and a hat that has a square on top of it with a tassel hanging off of it? And did you then in front of everybody go up on a stage and shake hands with someone and grab a scroll of paper that’s from the 14th century? And then take your hat off at the end and throw it away up in the air?” 

Of course, we’ve all engaged in rituals: if you’ve been to a wedding, if you’ve been to a funeral, if you’ve blown out candles on a birthday cake. We use these rituals when we make big transitions in life. Most cultures have something for kids, roughly between the age of 12 and 16, when they go from being a kid to an adult. All religions, many cultures have this kind of rite of passage in place. We do them many times in life; it isn’t just that one time and then we’re done.

Another big change in life is grief and loss—and we have rituals around that. Most cultures in the world, for example, have a color associated with a funeral. In the U.S., it’s black, but in other countries it’s white. Some countries it’s red; some countries it’s green. You wear these colors on the day of the funeral, and then there’s practices where you continue to wear that color for a little while afterward, so that people can see you’re grieving. If you’re still wearing black, then I know that you’re grieving. If you haven’t shaved in a very long time, I can guess that perhaps you’re grieving. The gatherings themselves give us social support, they pull us together with everyone we know, and then if we continue to wear the color, others can continue to help us with our grief.

EST: Is there anything else that you think would be valuable for readers to know?

MN: As a first step, I think about it less like “I’m going to come up with nine new rituals and start doing them” and more about taking an inventory of what you already do. Think of your morning, what do you do? When you get to work, what do you do? What do you do in your teams at work? What do you and your spouse do that’s special? What does your family do with your kids that’s special? Just see them; they’re happening already. If you don’t think you have them, you can ask your spouse or your children or your coworkers. They’ll tell you all your rituals.

It’s helpful just to own them, to recognize them. When you enact them intentionally like that, they can have a greater resonance. After they think about a ritual they’ve been doing for a while, people often laugh at themselves a little bit, in a nice way. Like, oh, we’re doing more fork clinking again . It adds something to the experience that’s free. If we can recognize it and name it, I think it can give it even more meaning.

About the Author

Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas

Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, Ph.D. , is the science director of the Greater Good Science Center, where she directs the GGSC's research fellowship program and serves as a co-instructor of its Science of Happiness and Science of Happiness at Work online courses.

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Is your left palm itching here's what it could mean for women.

Ladies, have you ever experienced an inexplicable itch in the palm of your left hand? It's a sensation many of us have felt at one time or another, but could there be more to it than just a random sensation? 

Many believe there is a deeper, even spiritual, meaning behind your left palm itching. 

Here, we'll explore the various interpretations of the meaning behind itchy left palms for women, as well as dive into the spiritual significance of what it could mean.

Left palm itching? Here's what it could mean

Throughout history, different cultures and belief systems have assigned various spiritual significance to bodily sensations, including itchy palms.

In many spiritual traditions, the left side of the body is associated with receiving energy, intuition, and other feminine traits, while the right side is linked to giving, action, assertiveness, and masculine energy . Therefore, an itchy left palm is interpreted by many cultures as a sign that you are about to receive something, whether it be material wealth, spiritual insights, or a positive change in your life.

One of the most common interpretations of the left palm itching for women is related to receiving money. In folklore and many superstitions, it is believed that if a woman's left palm is itchy, she may soon experience unexpected financial gain. 

However, some cultures believe that depending on your gender, your left palm itching could mean the opposite—that you'll lose money soon—such as in the Caribbean and even in Hindu mythology.

From a holistic perspective, some practitioners believe that the sensation of an itchy palm may be linked to the chakras, the energy centers within the body. By paying attention to these sensations and exploring practices such as meditation, yoga, or energy healing, you may be able to restore balance to your chakras and alleviate the itchiness in your left palm.

Other potential spiritual meanings of the left palm itching in women: 

• Good luck 
• Financial gain
• Financial loss
• Someone misses you 
• Wedding or proposal could be on the horizon 
• Spiritual insights

What about the right palm?

While our focus is primarily on the spiritual meaning of an itchy left palm in women, it's worth mentioning the significance of an itchy right palm for women, as well.

Depending on the superstitions you subscribe to, the meaning of the right palm itching is often interpreted as a sign that you may need to spend money soon, or that financial resources are flowing out of your life.

For instance, in South Asia, an itchy right palm means good luck for men but bad luck for women. Additionally, some cultures believe that if a woman has an itchy right palm, she will meet new people or have positive social interactions. 

So, if you find your right hand itching, it might be worth putting a little extra into your savings account for the month—just in case! 

Using palmistry for deeper clues

If your palms are itching, can you find a deeper spiritual meaning? Some believe answers may lie in palmistry. 

Palmistry (also known as chiromancy) is an ancient practice that has been intertwined with human history for centuries. Palmistry's roots can be traced back to various civilizations , including ancient India, Egypt, and China, and to the Roma people.

The practice involves examining the lines, shapes, and markings on the palms of the hands to gain insight into an individual's personality, traits, and future prospects.

From a spiritual perspective, palmistry is often viewed as a tool for self-discovery and personal growth. The lines on the palms are believed to reflect the various aspects of an individual's journey through life, with each line representing a different part of their experiences and potential.

In some spiritual traditions, it is believed that the hands are imbued with energy and symbolism, making them a powerful outlet for moving and healing energy.

By studying the lines and markings on the palms, individuals can gain insight into their soul purpose and their strengths, weaknesses, and hidden talents, allowing them to make more informed decisions and navigate life's challenges with greater clarity and purpose.

The takeaway

While it's important to acknowledge the cultural and spiritual significance that many people attach to bodily sensations like itchy palms, it's also essential to approach these beliefs with a sense of curiosity and open-mindedness.

The spiritual meaning of an itchy left palm for women may vary depending on cultural beliefs and personal interpretations, but it serves as a reminder to pay attention to the subtle messages that our bodies send us.

Whether it's an indication of a coming windfall, a sign of a chakra imbalance , or you are simply suffering from dry skin, the next time you feel an itch in the palm of your left hand, take a moment to connect to your intuition and determine what it might signify for you.

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The Meaning Behind “I’m Your Huckleberry” – Decoding the Iconic Line from Tombstone

May 15, 2024 by Mariska Lee Leave a Comment

The 1993 Western film Tombstone has become a cult classic over the years. Known for its gripping storyline, intense gunfight scenes, and memorable one-liners, Tombstone vividly depicts the legendary feud between Wyatt Earp and the Cochise County Cowboys.

One of the most iconic quotes from the film is spoken by Doc Holliday, played brilliantly by Val Kilmer. When challenged to a duel, Doc coolly responds “I’m your huckleberry.”

But what exactly does this enigmatic phrase mean?

In Tombstone, “I’m your huckleberry” is uttered as a daring acceptance of a challenge.

Originally, the phrase “I’m your huckleberry” was a way of saying “I’m the right man for the job.” Huckleberry is a small, round fruit, so saying you’re someone’s huckleberry implies you fit their needs well, like two puzzle pieces joining together.

Doc uses the phrase to indicate he’s the perfect opponent for Johnny Ringo, confident in his own gunslinging skills.

The quote is made even more impactful when considering Doc’s character arc in Tombstone.

Doc Holliday starts out seeking redemption, trying to do the right thing by helping his friend Wyatt Earp keep order.

Over time, Doc loses this moral compass, giving in to his inner demons. His terminal illness and alcoholism fuel his anger and fatalistic nature.

So when he volunteers to duel Johnny Ringo, he no longer cares about living or dying. He knows he can best Ringo in a gunfight, and is eager to risk his life to take down the Cochise County Cowboys.

Tombstone dramatizes the legendary conflict between the Earps and the outlaw Cowboys gang in the 1880s.

Wyatt Earp, retired lawman, wants to settle down in Tombstone with his brothers. But the ruthless Cowboys repeatedly defy his attempts to enforce law and order.

After repeated provocations and attacks, including the maiming of Wyatt’s brother Virgil and the brutal murder of his brother Morgan, Wyatt seeks vengeance in a fateful showdown at the O.K. Corral.

He recruits the sickly but deadly Doc as an unlikely ally.

Ultimately, Doc’s utterance of “I’m your huckleberry” shows his fearlessness towards death and willingness to back up his friend Wyatt.

The quote encapsulates Doc’s complexity – on one hand confident, yet with underlying pain and exhaustion.

Val Kilmer’s masterful performance makes Doc charismatic despite his flaws. Over three decades later, “I’m your huckleberry” remains one of the most memorable lines in any Western film.

Whenever people quote Doc Holliday’s bold words today, it serves as a tribute to an iconic character in an unforgettable movie.

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Honey, I Love You. Didn’t You See My Slack About It?

Some couples are using professional project-management software to maintain their relationships. Why does it bother other people?

By Erin Griffith

Ben Lang didn’t expect to get so much hate just for being organized. For the past three years, he and his wife, Karen-Lynn Amouyal, have been using Notion, a popular software tool, to optimize their household and relationship. His version of the tool, commonly used by businesses to manage complex projects, functions like a souped-up Google Doc, with sections for a grocery list, to-do lists and details of upcoming trips.

More unusual is a section Mr. Lang, a venture capital investor who previously worked at Notion, created about principles (“what’s important to us as a couple”). Another section, called “Learnings,” outlines things the couple have discovered about each other, such as their love languages and Myers-Briggs test results. There’s a list of friends they want to set up on dates. They also maintain a log of memories from their date nights. Mr. Lang, 30, was so proud of the creation that last month, he started promoting a template of the setup to others. “My wife and I use Notion religiously to manage our day-to-day life,” he wrote on X. “I turned this into a template, let me know if you’d like to see it!”

The internet responded with a venomous outrage. “People have told me my wife is cheating on me, people have told me I have a dead body in my basement, people have told me I’m autistic,” he said.

But his approach isn’t entirely unusual, especially among people who work in the tech industry and want to manage their personal lives the same way they manage their professional lives. For a class of young workers, it’s only rational to apply the tools of the corporate world to their relationships and families. Businesses have goals and systems for achieving them, the thinking goes. They get things done.

Anastasia Alt, 35, uses Kanban boards — a visual tracking system where tasks progress from left to right — in Trello, a project management tool, for “literally everything.” This includes work at Yana Sleep , her e-commerce start-up, but also planning trips and events with her partner. The two of them also have a dedicated Slack work space, named after a mash-up of their surnames with a logo created using the artificial intelligence software Midjourney. She acknowledged, in jest, that some of her systems were “a little psychopathic,” but said she’s always been an optimizer.

Ms. Alt said the Slack work space has emotional benefits for her relationship, too: freeing up their text messages and in-person conversations for the fun stuff.

“I’m glad, when the workday is over, that I don’t need to address 20 minutes’ worth of semi-urgent logistical items before diving into eating takeout food and hanging out with our dogs,” she said. “Sitting in person and hashing out a schedule together is less high-quality time than sitting in person and, you know, telling jokes.”

A #gratitude channel, where the couple posts messages of appreciation or acknowledgment of what the other person is doing, has become a repository of memories she likes to look back on, almost like a photo album, she said.

Lessons From Business

Relationships are work, but no one wants to admit it.

But this particular flavor of life hacking often causes observers to collectively recoil. It threatens to take the romance and spontaneity out of life, in their view. It feels cold.

“There is a phenomenon whereby the more you try to manage your life, the more you risk squeezing the vibrancy out of it,” said Oliver Burkeman, author of “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.”

And yet, the crushing overwhelm of modern life, with daily to-do lists and schedules and notifications and digital logistics can feel so never-ending that any solution offering to optimize even the tiniest task — or most meaningful relationship — looks like a lifeline worth grasping for.

Emily Oster, a parenting expert and economist, rose to popularity by promoting a data-based approach to managing pregnancy, including in her latest book “The Unexpected.” She also wrote a book in 2021 called “The Family Firm,” which advises using a “business process” to make family decisions about, for instance, extracurriculars or getting your kid a phone. Some critics have attacked her approach for the same reasons they recoil from a Notion template for married couples — it can feel detached.

Dr. Oster said the problem is not systems like hers — it’s not having difficult conversations about priorities and principles. Her spreadsheets and other tools are designed to set people up for the lives they want, she said.

“Surfacing conflict on purpose is something we don’t generally like to do,” she said. “It’s hard to do at work, also, but it’s even harder to do with someone you want go to sleep with at night.”

Dr. Oster said the lesson she takes from the business world to her personal life is to make thoughtful, deliberate decisions. “I don’t think there is a limit to how far you can take that,” she said.

She’s not alone in that thinking. Even amid the backlash to Mr. Lang’s template, more than 2,400 people liked it enough to download a copy, with an option to pay up to $25.

‘They Are Craving a Solution’

Claire Kart, 40, was among those who bought the template, in part, she said, because she was amused by all the jokes about it. But also, with two kids under the age of 3, the allure of a better, more productive, more organized way of life at home was irresistible.

Ms. Kart, a marketing executive at a cryptocurrency start-up, already has some optimization systems in place with her husband, a start-up founder. They use Google’s Keep app for a shared grocery list and Google calendars to manage their schedule. She has elaborately color-coded Google Sheets for Christmas gifts and vacation planning. (She calls herself the family’s chief creative officer, as well as chief investment officer. Her husband is the chief financial officer and chief technology officer.)

Ms. Kart said systems like hers were necessary for splitting up household management duties. One person can keep everything in their head, she said, but “dividing and co-owning that work” leads to “coordination friction.”

Like Ms. Alt, she believes the systems free up their limited in-person time for more meaningful conversations. “Using that really rare time to talk about a grocery list feels lonely,” she said.

Since her second child was born a little over a year ago, Ms. Kart and her husband have been “cutting scope,” she said, using a project management phrase for doing less. “We’re in survival mode,” she said. “Just cooking dinner feels like a win.”

Mr. Lang’s template could help, she said. The only problem so far? She’s been too busy to set it up.

A smaller subset of people have always used tech tools in their personal lives, but the practice has spread in recent years. Mei Lin Ng, the co-founder of the family tech start-up, Hearth, said that one reason past attempts to create technology for the family have failed was that consumers weren’t as open to it. Her company’s product, a 27-inch screen that families can mount in their homes to display schedules, assign chores and help kids with morning and bedtime routines that became available last year, is being adopted by digitally native millennials.

“Consumers are really, really ready for something like this,” she said. “They are craving a solution.”

After Ms. Alt told her friend and fellow optimizer, Ryan Matzner, about her couples’ Slack, he immediately started his own. It was a bit of an uphill battle to get his fiancée, Kate McKenzie, on board — she is a medical school student and preferred analog tools like a paper planner — but they’re now using Trello, Slack and a shared Google calendar to plan their wedding.

Mr. Matzner, 39, co-founder of a product development agency called Fueled, realized that he had been avoiding responding to text messages from Ms. McKenzie because their thread had turned into a to-do list full of tasks.

So they dumped all their administrative tasks into Slack, which has expanded beyond wedding planning into regular life with more than 40 channels including #house-parties, #travel and #ludwig-the-car.

Being hyper-organized and efficient is a natural outgrowth of having a very active work and social life, Mr. Matzner said. He sends calendar invites the minute he makes plans and saves new friends into his contacts with their city — searchable anytime he’s in town — as well as a note if they’d be fun to invite to a dinner party. He wishes someone would build a “personal C.R.M.” (customer relationship management, the kind of system sold by companies like Salesforce), since none of the options he’s tried are entirely satisfying.

Being the organized person in a relationship can lead to friction. Kate Reznykova, 27, a venture capital investor, used to frequently field random queries like, “How do we log into our internet?” from her partner throughout the day, which tested her patience. She recently started using Mr. Lang’s Notion template to establish a “shared source of truth” for such questions. “If I get a text, I say, ‘Go to the page, it’s all there,’” she said.

Mr. Lang was amused by the attention his template got online. There were memes about divorce rates spiking in San Francisco, about “offboarding” one’s wife and about requiring your partner to submit a “purchase order approval form” to spend money. He posted his own joke version, with quarterly objectives and annual reviews for relationships.

He and Ms. Amouyal used Notion to plan their wedding — a life event that, anecdotally, seems to turn many couples into project managers — and decided to keep it going after their honeymoon. The most hated part of his template, the date night log, was simply a way to follow all the marriage advice he kept hearing, he said. Everyone told him how important it was to keep the connection strong as life gets busier and more complicated. Why not create a journal of all the fun things they’ve done together? The outsized reaction was a surprise.

“I thought a few people would respond and think it’s cute,” he said.

Erin Griffith covers tech companies, start-ups and the culture of Silicon Valley from San Francisco. More about Erin Griffith

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Dive deeper into the people, issues and trends shaping the world of business..

Elon Musk’s Diplomacy: ​​The billionaire is wooing right-wing world leaders  to push his own politics and expand his business empire.

Staying Connected: ​​Some couples are using professional project-management software like Slack and Trello to maintain their relationships. Why does it bother other people ?

A Final Curtain Call: ​​The animatronic band at Chuck E. Cheese, by turns endearing and creepy, will be phased out by year’s end at all but two locations. We visited one of them .

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Plants can communicate and respond to touch. Does that mean they're intelligent?

Tonya Mosley

"The primary way plants communicate with each other is through a language, so to speak, of chemical gasses," journalist Zoë Schlanger says. Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

"The primary way plants communicate with each other is through a language, so to speak, of chemical gasses," journalist Zoë Schlanger says.

In the 1960s and '70s, a series of questionable experiments claimed to prove that plants could behave like humans, that they had feelings, responded to music and could even take a polygraph test .

Though most of those claims have since been debunked, climate journalist Zoë Schlanger says a new wave of research suggests that plants are indeed "intelligent" in complex ways that challenge our understanding of agency and consciousness.

"Agency is this effect of having ... an active stake in the outcome of your life," Schlanger says. "And when I was looking at plants and speaking to botanists, it became very clear to me that plants have this."

In her new book, The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth , Schlanger, a staff reporter at The Atlantic, writes about how plants use information from the environment, and from the past, to make "choices" for the future.

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Schlanger notes that some tomato plants, when being eaten by caterpillars, fill their leaves with a chemical that makes them so unappetizing that the caterpillars start eating each other instead. Corn plants have been known to sample the saliva of predator caterpillars — and then use that information to emit a chemical to attract a parasitic wasp that will attack the caterpillar.

Stop overwatering your houseplants, and other things plant experts want you to know

Schlanger acknowledges that our understanding of plants is still developing — as are the definitions of "intelligence" and "consciousness." "Science is there [for] observation and to experiment, but it can't answer questions about this ineffable, squishy concept of intelligence and consciousness," she says.

But, she adds, "part of me feels like it almost doesn't matter, because what we see plants doing — what we now understand they can do — simply brings them into this realm of alert, active processing beings, which is a huge step from how many of us were raised to view them, which is more like ornaments in our world or this decorative backdrop for our our lives."

Interview highlights

On the concept of plant "intelligence"

Intelligence is this thing that's loaded with so much human meaning. It's too muddled up sometimes with academic notions of intelligence. ... Is this even something we want to layer on to plants? And that's something that I hear a lot of plant scientists talk about. They recognize more than anyone that plants are not little humans. They don't want their subjects to be reduced in a way to human tropes or human standards of either of those things.

On the debate over if plants have nervous systems

I was able to go to a lab in Wisconsin where there [were] plants that had ... been engineered to glow, but only to glow when they've been touched. So I used tweezers to pinch a plant on its vein, ... the kind of mid-rib of a leaf. And I got to watch this glowing green signal emanate from the point where I pinch the plant out to the whole rest of the plant. Within two minutes, the whole plant had received a signal of my touch, of my "assault," so to speak, with these tweezers. And research like that is leading people within the plant sciences, but also people who work on neurobiology in people to question whether or not it's time to expand the notion of a nervous system.

On if plants feel pain

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Plants don't have brains — but they sure act smart.

We have nothing at the moment to suggest that plants feel pain, but do they sense being touched, or sense being eaten, and respond with a flurry of defensive chemicals that suggest that they really want to prevent whatever's going on from continuing? Absolutely. So this is where we get into tricky territory. Do we ascribe human concepts like pain ... to a plant, even though it has no brain? And we can't ask it if it feels pain. We have not found pain receptors in a plant. But then again, I mean, the devil's advocate view here is that we only found the mechanoreceptors for pain in humans, like, fairly recently. But we do know plants are receiving inputs all the time. They know when a caterpillar is chewing on them, and they will respond with aggressive defensiveness. They will do wild things to keep that caterpillar from destroying them further.

On how plants communicate with each other

Zoë Schlanger is a staff writer at The Atlantic. Heather Sten/Harper Collins hide caption

Zoë Schlanger is a staff writer at The Atlantic.

The primary way plants communicate with each other is through a language, so to speak, of chemical gasses. ... And there's little pores on plants that are microscopic. And under the microscope, they look like little fish lips. ... And they open to release these gasses. And those gasses contain information. So when a plant is being eaten or knocked over by an animal or hit by wind too hard, it will release an alarm call that other plants in the area can pick up on. And this alarm call can travel pretty long distances, and the plants that receive it will prime their immune systems and their defense systems to be ready for this invasion, for this group of chewing animals before they even arrive. So it's a way of saving themselves, and it makes evolutionary sense. If you're a plant, you don't want to be standing out in a field alone, so to speak. It's not good for reproductive fitness. It's not good for attracting pollinators. It's often in the interest of plants to warn their neighbors of attacks like this.

On plant "memory"

Research News

Orangutan in the wild applied medicinal plant to heal its own injury, biologists say.

There's one concept that I think is very beautiful, called the "memory of winter." And that's this thing where many plants, most of our fruit trees, for example, have to have the "memory," so to speak, of a certain number of days of cold in the winter in order to bloom in the spring. It's not enough that the warm weather comes. They have to get this profound cold period as well, which means to some extent they're counting. They're counting the elapsed days of cold and then the elapsed days of warmth to make sure they're also not necessarily emerging in a freak warm spell in February. This does sometimes happen, of course. We hear stories about farmers losing their crops to freak warm spells. But there is evidence to suggest there's parts of plants physiology that helps them record this information. But much like in people, we don't quite know the substrate of that memory. We can't quite locate where or how it's possibly being recorded.

On not anthropomorphizing plants

What's interesting is that scientists and botany journals will do somersaults to avoid using human language for plants. And I totally get why. But when you go meet them in their labs, they are willing to anthropomorphize the heck out of their study subjects. They'll say things like, "Oh, the plants hate when I do that." Or, "They really like this when I do this or they like this treatment." I once heard a scientist talk about, "We're going to go torture the plant again." So they're perfectly willing to do that in private. And the reason for that is not because they're holding some secret about how plants are actually just little humans. It's that they've already resolved that complexity in their mind. They trust themselves to not be reducing their subjects to human, simplistic human tropes. And that's going to be a task for all of us to somehow come to that place.

It's a real challenge for me. So much of what I was learning while doing research for this book was super intangible. You can't see a plant communicating, you can't watch a plant priming its immune system or manipulating an insect. A lot of these things are happening in invisible ways. ... Now when I go into a park, I feel totally surrounded by little aliens. I know that there is immense plant drama happening all over the place around me.

Sam Briger and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz and Molly Seavy-Nesper adapted it for the web.