biography meaning in vocabulary

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Definition of biography

Did you know.

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 1 Apr. 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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BIO: A vocabulary for biographical information

Other formats: RDF/XML

This document describes a vocabulary for describing biographical information about people, both living and dead.

The BIO vocabulary contains terms useful for finding out more about people and their backgrounds and has some cross-over into genealogical information. The approach taken is to describe a person's life as a series of interconnected key events, around which other information can be woven. This vocabulary defines the event framework and supplies a set of core event types that cover many use cases, but it is expected that it will be extended in other vocabularies to suit their needs. The intention of this vocabulary is to describe biographical events of people and this intention carries through to the definitions of the properties and classes which are person-centric rather than neutral. For example the Employment event puts the person being employed as the principal agent in the event rather than the employer.

The BIO vocabulary defines a number of core classes and properties for describing biographical information:

At its heart the BIO vocabulary is concerned with people, their relationships and the events in their lives. Together these can be used to build up a narrative of a person's life and their interactions with other people, organizations and the world around them. Events bound intervals of time that may be associated with particular relationships between people and groups or organisations. Many different types of life event are defined in this vocabulary including the obvious Birth, Marriage and Death but also Coronation, Performance and even Murder. These events are not intended to be fully comprehensive but are representative of the types of events associated with biographical material. Currently the relationship segment of the vocabulary is underspecified with only a generic Relationship class available. It is envisaged that many types of relationship such as families, employments and ownerships will be specified in the future.

The sequence of events and intervals build a timeline of history against which people and their relationships can be placed. The aim is to enable simple forms of genealogical reasoning such as determining whether a child was born out of wedlock or the location of a family given the fact one of their children was attending a particular school. Events are ordered in time by relating them to one another and to abstract intervals of time:

Please see https://github.com/iand/vocab-bio for the master version of this vocabulary.

Please direct feedback on this document to the FOAF-DEV mailing list"

• 2003-03-07 - first issued
• 2003-07-28 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Added keywords property
• 2004-03-05 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Added Creative Commons license
• 2005-04-01 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Added examples
• 2009-05-19 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Minor changes to improve publishing process
• 2010-04-20 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Added change history
• 2010-05-10 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Major expansion of properties and classes
• 2010-05-20 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Batch of revisions based on community feedback
• 2010-06-05 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Added biography property
• 2010-06-06 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Added subproperty and equivalent property relations for bio:father, bio:mother and bio:child
• 2011-06-10 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Added bio:Formation and bio:Disbanding events
• 2011-06-10 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Added bio:Performance event
• 2011-06-14 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Expanded description and added diagrams
• 2011-06-14 - semantic change by Alexandre Passant: Added properties for Birth and Death Event types, motivated by JSON serialisations of RDF
• 2011-06-14 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Added bio:Relationship class and properties

The URI for this vocabulary is

When abbreviating terms the suggested prefix is bio

Each class or property in the vocabulary has a URI constructed by appending a term name to the vocabulary URI. For example:

Terms Grouped by Theme

Properties that relate an event to another event: Concurrent Event , Following Event , Preceding Event , Immediately Following Event and Immediately Preceding Event

Terms Summary

An alphabetical list of all terms defined in this schema.

Properties and Classes

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Accession

The event of a person succeeding to the right to hold regal power. This event is often automatic on the death of the previous monarch and is usually followed by a coronation event.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Individual Event .

• 2010-05-03 - first issued

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Adoption

The event of creating of a legal parent/child relationship that does not exist biologically.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/agent

A person, organization or group that plays a role in an event.

Having this property implies being an Event . Every value of this property is a foaf:Agent . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom and the inverse of Life Event

• 2010-05-05 - first issued

Other Information

Agent relationship.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Relationship

A particular type of connection existing between people, groups or organizations related to or having dealings with each other.

Having Participant or Relationship Interval implies being a member of this class. Things are a member of this class if they are the value of Relationship . It is equivalent to rel:Relationship .

• 2011-06-14 - first issued

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Annulment

The event of declaring a marriage void from the beginning as though it never existed.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Group Event .

Assassination

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Assassination

The event of a person being deliberately targeted and killed.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Murder .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Baptism

The ceremonial event held to admit a person to membership of a Christian church.

• 2010-05-20 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Revised comment, replacing 'the Christian church' with 'a Christian church'

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/BarMitzvah

The ceremonial event held when a Jewish boy reaches age 13.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/BasMitzvah

The ceremonial event held when a Jewish girl reaching age 13, also known as "Bat Mitzvah."

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/biography

An extended description or account of someone's life.

It is expected that the value of this property is either a literal formatted with HTML markup or a pointer to an HTML document.

Having this property implies being a foaf:Person .

• 2010-06-05 - first issued

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Birth

The event of a person entering into life.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Individual Event . Things are a member of this class if they are the value of Birth Event .

The birth of Albert Einstein

• 2010-05-04 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Marked as testing

Birth Event

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/birth

An birth event associated with a person, group or organization.

Having this property implies being a foaf:Agent . Every value of this property is a Birth . It is a sub-property of Life Event and owl:differentFrom .

• 2011-07-12 - semantic change by Alexandre Passant: Proposed addition of the property

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Burial

The event of interring the remains of a person's body into the ground.

Change of Name

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/NameChange

The event of a person changing their name.

Change of Position

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/PositionChange

The event of a person changing the position they hold with an employer.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/child

A biological child of a person.

Having this property implies being a foaf:Person . Every value of this property is a foaf:Person . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom . It is equivalent to Is parent of .

• 2010-06-06 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Made equivalent to rel:parentOf on suggestion of Gautier Poupeau

Concluding Event

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/concludingEvent

An event that marks the end of an interval and/or relationship. The event changes of the state of affairs that held during the interval. For example a period of study may be concluded by a Graduation event.

Every value of this property is an Event . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom .

• 2010-05-06 - first issued

Concurrent Event

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/concurrentEvent

An event that occurs while this event is occurring. The events need not start or conclude at the same times.

This property is symmetrical. Having this property implies being an Event . Every value of this property is an Event . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Coronation

The ceremonial event of a person being invested with regal power to become a monarch.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Cremation

The event of disposing of the remains of a person's body by fire.

The cremation of Albert Einstein

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/date

The date at which an event occurred.

The date should be formatted as specified in ISO8601 . For example: 2003-03-15 corresponds to the 15th March 2003, and 2003-03-15T13:21-05:00 corresponds to 15th March 2003, 8:21 am, US Eastern Standard Time.

Having this property implies being an Event . It is a sub-property of Date .

• 2010-05-03 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Added a plural label
• 2010-05-04 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Marked as a stable term

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Death

The event of a person's life ending.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Individual Event . Things are a member of this class if they are the value of Death Event .

The death of Albert Einstein

Death event.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/death

An death event associated with a person, group or organization.

Having this property implies being a foaf:Agent . Every value of this property is a Death . It is a sub-property of Life Event and owl:differentFrom .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Demotion

The event of a person changing the position they hold with an employer to one with less importance or responsibility.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Change of Position .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Disbanding

The event of a group or organization being disbanded.

• 2011-06-10 - first issued

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Dismissal

The event of a person involuntarily giving up their office or position. Dismissal is often perceived to be the employee's fault and may be considered disgraceful.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Divorce

The event of legally dissolving a marriage.

The divorce of Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Emigration

The event of a person leaving their homeland with the intent of residing elsewhere.

Albert Einstein emigrating to the United States

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/employer

An agent that is involved in an event as an employer.

Having this property implies being an Event . Every value of this property is a foaf:Agent . It is a sub-property of Agent .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Employment

The event of a person entering an occupational relationship with an employer.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Enrolment

The event of a person initiating attendence to a school or other place of learning.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Event

An event is an occurrence that brings about a change in the state of affairs for one or more people and/or other agents. Events are assumed to occur over a period of time and may not have precise start and end points.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of c4dm:Event , cyc:Event , msg0:Event and dctype:Event . Having Date , Place , Position , Event Interval , Preceding Event , Immediately Preceding Event , Following Event , Immediately Following Event , Concurrent Event , Agent , Employer , State , Parent , Principal , Partner , Officiator , Witness , Spectator or Organization implies being a member of this class. Things are a member of this class if they are the value of Preceding Event , Immediately Preceding Event , Following Event , Immediately Following Event , Concurrent Event , Initiating Event , Concluding Event or Life Event .

• 2010-05-04 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Made equivalent to cyc:Event
• 2010-05-20 - editorial change by Ian Davis: Marked as testing status
• 2010-05-20 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Removed subclass of owl-time ProperInteval

Event Interval

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/eventInterval

The interval during which the event occurs. This interval represents the exact interval of occurence for an event, it starts at the moment the event commences and finishes when the event concludes. In other words both the event and the interval start at the same instant of time and extend for the same duration.

Having this property implies being an Event . Every value of this property is an Interval .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Execution

The event of a person being deliberately killed as punishment.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Death .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/father

The biological father of a person, also known as the genitor.

This property is functional. Having this property implies being a foaf:Person . Every value of this property is a foaf:Person . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom and Is child of .

• 2010-06-06 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Made subproperty of rel:childOf on suggestion of Gautier Poupeau

Following Event

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/followingEvent

An event that starts at some time after this event.

This property is transitive. Having this property implies being an Event . Every value of this property is an Event . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Formation

The event of a group or organization coming into being.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Funeral

The event of marking a person's death with a ceremony.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Graduation

The event of a person being awarded educational diplomas or degrees.

Albert Einstein receiving his Doctorate from the University of Zurich

Group event.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/GroupEvent

A type of event that is principally about one or more agents and their partnership. Other agents may be involved but the event is most significant for the partner agent.

Every member of this class has at least 2 Partner properties. Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Event and a class that has at least 2 Partner properties.

Immediately Following Event

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/immediatelyFollowingEvent

An event that starts immediately after this event.

Having this property implies being an Event . Every value of this property is an Event . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom and Following Event .

Immediately Preceding Event

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/immediatelyPrecedingEvent

An event that occurs and concludes immediately before this event.

Having this property implies being an Event . Every value of this property is an Event . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom and Preceding Event .

Imprisonment

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Imprisonment

The event of a person being detained in a jail or prison.

• 2010-05-04 - first issued

Inauguration

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Inauguration

The ceremonial event marking the beginning of a person's term of office as a leader.

Individual Event

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/IndividualEvent

A type of event that is principally about a single person, group or organization. Other agents may be involved but the event is most significant for the principal agent.

Every member of this class has exactly 1 Principal property. Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Event and a class that has exactly 1 Principal property.

Initiating Event

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/initiatingEvent

An event that marks the start of an interval and/or relationship. The event contributes to and/or causes of the state of affairs that hold during the interval. For example a period of study may be initiated by an Enrolment event.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Interval

A extended interval of time related to a particular state of affairs, such as the lifespan of a person or a period of employment.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of time:ProperInterval . Things are a member of this class if they are the value of Event Interval or Relationship Interval .

Investiture

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Investiture

The ceremonial event of a person taking a public office or honour.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/keywords

A comma delimited list of key words that describe a person.

Having this property implies being a foaf:Person . Every value of this property is a rdfs:Literal . It is a sub-property of Subject .

• 2003-07-28 - first issued
• 2010-05-03 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Declared that this is a datatype property

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/event

An event associated with a person, group or organization.

Having this property implies being a foaf:Agent . Every value of this property is an Event . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom and the inverse of Agent

• 2010-05-03 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Made a subproperty of owl:differentFrom
• 2011-06-14 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Changed domain to foaf:Agent

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Marriage

The event of creating uniting the participants into a new family unit, sometimes accompanied by a formal wedding ceremony. This is intended to cover a broad range of marriages including those given formal legal standing, common-law, or by convention. It is not restricted to marriages of two people of the opposite gender, but also includes polygamous and same-sex unions.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Group Event . It is equivalent to cyc:WeddingEvent_Generic .

The marriage of Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić

• 2010-05-04 - semantic change by Ian Davis: Made equivalent to cyc:WeddingEvent_Generic

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/mother

The biological mother of a person, also known as the genetrix.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Murder

The event of a person being killed unlawfully with intent by the killer.

Naturalization

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Naturalization

The event of a person obtaining citizenship. Note that the place the naturalization event occurs at may be different from the state the person is obtaining citizenship of.

Albert Einstein becoming a citizen of the United States

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/officiator

A person that officiates at a ceremonial event.

Having this property implies being an Event . Every value of this property is a foaf:Person . It is a sub-property of Agent .

One-line bio

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/olb

A one-line biography of the person.

Having this property implies being a foaf:Person . Every value of this property is a rdfs:Literal .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Ordination

The ceremonial event held when a person receives authority to act in religious matters.

Organization

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/organization

An organization that plays a role in an event.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/parent

A person that takes the parent role in an event.

Participant

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/participant

A person, group or organization that participates in a relationship for some time.

Having this property implies being an Agent Relationship . Every value of this property is a foaf:Agent . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom and the inverse of Relationship It is equivalent to rel:participant .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/partner

A person that is involved in a event as a partner in a relationship.

Performance

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Performance

The event of an individual or a group of performers performing. Examples include concerts, plays, recitals, recordings, busking etc.

Being a member of this class implies also being a member of Group Event . It is equivalent to mo:Performance .

• 2011-06-12 - first issued

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/place

The place at which an event occurred.

Having this property implies being an Event .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/position

The employment position or public office involved in an event.

Preceding Event

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/precedingEvent

An event that occurs and concludes at some time before this event.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/principal

A person that takes the primary and most important role in an event. For example the principal in a Birth event would be the child being born and the principal in a Burial event would be the deceased person.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Promotion

The event of a person changing the position they hold with an employer to one with more importance or responsibility.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Redundancy

The event of a person involuntarily giving up an office or position that is no longer needed. Redundancy is usually perceived to be the employer's fault and is usually due to conditions outside of the employee's control.

Relationship

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/relationship

A relationship that a person, group or organization participates in for some time.

Having this property implies being a foaf:Agent . Every value of this property is an Agent Relationship . It is a sub-property of owl:differentFrom and the inverse of Participant It is equivalent to rel:participantIn .

Relationship Interval

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/interval

The interval during which the relationship persists.

Having this property implies being an Agent Relationship . Every value of this property is an Interval .

Resignation

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Resignation

The event of a person voluntarily giving up or quitting their office or position.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/Retirement

The event of a person exiting an occupational relationship with an employer after a qualifying time period. In many cultures retirement is expected and even required once the person reaches a particular age.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/spectator

A person that is present at and observes the occurrence of at least part of an event.

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/state

A country or independent territory that is involved in an event.

Having this property implies being an Event . It is a sub-property of Agent .

URI: http://purl.org/vocab/bio/0.1/witness

A person that witnesses and can bear testimony to the occurrence of an event.

Having this property implies being an Event . Every value of this property is a foaf:Person . It is a sub-property of Spectator .

A Biography of Henry VIII, King of England

Based on information at Wikipedia and Hull University

The source for this page can be found in the Github repository .

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Biography Definition

• life-history
• curriculum-vitae
• prosopography

Other Word Forms of Biography

Origin of biography.

From modern Latin biographia , formed from Ancient Greek βίος (bios, “life”) + γράφω (graphō, “write”).

From Wiktionary

Late Greek biographiā Greek bio- bio- Greek -graphiā -graphy

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Biography Sentence Examples

A biography was published by Le Laboureur, Histoire du mareschal de Guebriant, in 1656.

There is no good modern biography of Maecenas.

See Smiles, Industrial Biography (1879).

The standard biography is that by John Morley (1881).

Upon these sources is based the biography of the king by Plutarch.

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Words Starting With

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Definition of biography noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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Definition of 'biography'

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Video: pronunciation of biography

biography in American English

Biography in british english, examples of 'biography' in a sentence biography, related word partners biography, trends of biography.

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Isekai, the Popular Manga and Anime Genre, Is Now in the Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford's definition of isekai hints at a shift in the popular anime genre's original definition..

According to The Guardian , The Oxford English Dictionary's latest update added 23 Japanese words to its lexicon. Included among these Japanese terms like is one of the most popular anime genres: isekai.

Oxford English Dictionary's official website defines isekai as "a Japanese genre of science or fantasy fiction featuring a protagonist who is transported to or reincarnated in a different, strange, or unfamiliar world."

While Isekai has been colloquially understood in the U.S.anime community as an genre where a character is teleported into a fantasy world — be it through a VR device à la Sword Art Online or vehicular incidents with a white truck , the term has been slightly misapplied. According to the Tokyo-based Twitch streamer Celina, isekai's means "the story takes place in a totally different world from our real world." Meaning classic fantasy shows fans wouldn't consider to be isekai like Record of Lodoss War and contemporary anime like Delicious in Dungeon and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End could be considered isekai. Turns out the anime community's popularized definition of isekai is referring to its sub-genre.

"If it's some modern dude getting reincarnated to another world, it's called isekaitensei," Celina wrote on X/Twitter .

Celina continued in the thread, saying isekai's original definition doesn't just restrict itself to a fantasy setting either, meaning sci-fi stories can technically be an isekai as well. By that logic, Square Enix's 2017 action role-playing game, Nier: Automata , was an isekai before Sword Art Online studio A-1 Pictures turned it into anime last year .

This would probably explain why the popular fantasy anime Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation isn't called Musoku Isekai. However, other upcoming anime like the aptly titled Suicide Squad Isekai doesn't help clear up the anime community's ongoing confusion over the word's proper definition.

Grammatical history lesson aside, the Oxford dictionary will likely not have to iimmediately make an addendum to its definition on isekai. According to The Guardian , editors at the Oxford English Dictionary collaborated with researchers from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies to define isekai and other commonly borrowed cooking-related Japanese words like katsu. This would suggest the word's original definition has shiftted from its originial meaning to fit with anime fan's populalrized misuse of its subgenre. To be fair, isekai rolls off the tongue easier.

If you take anything away from this article — aside from isekai being recognized in the Oxford dicionary of course — Nintendo and Ilumination's The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the second most successful isekai movie ever, coming second to Studio Ghibli's Golden Globe and Oscar award-winning film, The Boy and The Heron .

Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.

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Google Changed Its Definition of 'Bloodbath' After Trump Used It in a Speech?

Social media users concocted a conspiracy theory to counter criticism of trump's use of the word., aleksandra wrona, published march 28, 2024.

About this rating

On March 16, 2024, former U.S. President Donald Trump said : "Now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that's gonna be the least of it. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country." His remark at a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio, sparked controversy on social media. As Snopes reported on March 17, 2024, its context suggested Trump was predicting an "economic bloodbath" for the country, not a literal one, if he loses the 2024 presidential election.

Five days later, on March 21, 2024, a rumor went viral on X (formerly Twitter), alleging that Google intentionally changed "its definition" of "bloodbath" to push an anti-Trump narrative. This claim is not only false, as we'll demonstrate below, but based on a complete ignorance of how the search engine's "dictionary boxes" work. But that didn't keep the rumor from going viral.

"HOLY S***. Google just quietly changed its search results for 'bloodbath definition'," the most viral post on the topic read, reaching over 35 million views as of this writing. The post featured a collage of two screenshots supposedly proving Google tampered with the search results for "bloodbath" between March 17, 2024, and March 21, 2024.

(X user @EndWokeness)

"Definition changed from how it was 4 days ago. Changed to remove the financial example, to ensure Trump's speech can always be taken out of context. Re-writing the meaning of words in real time," one Reddit user commented . Even Elon Musk, the owner of X, went all-in on the conspiracy theory. "Google is deeply infected with the woke mind virus" Musk wrote in an X  repost  of the above-mentioned collage to his 178 million followers. 

How 'Dictionary Boxes' on Google Really Work

According to a Google Search Help article  titled "Dictionary boxes on Google," these so-called "dictionary boxes" display definitions from third-party sources. It emphasized that "Google doesn't create, write, or modify definitions" and "dictionary results don't reflect the opinions of Google" (emphasis ours):

When you search on Google, you might find dictionary boxes if our systems decide it would be useful and relevant. Dictionary boxes show definitions from third-party expert sources and might include related images, pronunciations, translations, and other information. Tip: You're likely to get a Dictionary result when you start your search with "Define" or "What's the meaning of." Where info in Dictionary boxes comes from Important: Dictionary boxes always include definitions but might not include all other features. Definitions Google doesn't create, write, or modify definitions. Dictionary results don't reflect the opinions of Google. We license definitions, which include examples, similar and opposite words, and origins, from third-party experts who compile dictionaries. Tip: At the top of a Dictionary box, you can usually find the provider of the definition.

We reached out to Google directly to ask for its response to the claim that the definitions were purposely changed. "This allegation is categorically false," a spokesperson told us. "These definitions come from dictionaries, not from Google. We don't create, write, or modify definitions, and we don't manually decide which results appear. Both of these definitions have shown up for this search and related searches in recent days. " 

This confirms what various social media users had pointed out: The viral image didn't show an individual dictionary entry that had changed; it showed definitions from two different sources, Dictionary.com website and Oxford Languages (see image below). 

When we took a closer look at the viral image, we noticed the two screenshots were significantly different. The first one showed an "About featured snippets" caption, while the second one showed a "Dictionary, Definitions from Oxford Languages" legend. When we clicked on the "Oxford Languages" button, it redirected us to an Oxford Languages article, informing that "Google's English dictionary is provided by Oxford Languages."

The first screenshot, allegedly captured on March 17, 2024, informed the displayed search result was a "featured snippet." A Google Search Help  article  with the title "How Google's featured snippets work" said that "Google's search results sometimes show listings where the snippet describing a page comes before a link to a page, not after as with our standard format. Results displayed this way are called 'featured snippets.'" It continued (emphasis ours):

You might find featured snippets on their own within overall search results, within the "People also ask" section, or along with Knowledge Graph information. We display featured snippets when our systems determine this format will help people more easily discover what they're seeking, both from the description about the page and when they click on the link to read the page itself. They're especially helpful for those on mobile or searching by voice. Featured snippets commonly contain one listing, but more than one may appear. How featured snippets are chosen Featured snippets come from web search listings. Google's automated systems determine whether a page would make a good featured snippet to highlight for a specific search request. Your feedback helps us improve our search algorithms and the quality of your search results.

Ultimately, Google search results are based on many factors, such as one's location or the phrasing of the query, which might cause differences in the search results over time:

To give you the most useful information, Search algorithms look at many factors and signals, including the words of your query, relevance and usability of pages, expertise of sources, and your location and settings. The weight applied to each factor varies depending on the nature of your query. For example, the freshness of the content plays a bigger role in answering queries about current news topics than it does about dictionary definitions.

We have fact-checked other Google-related rumors before. For instance, in June 2023, we investigated whether Google Maps was adding a feature that would allow drivers to challenge each other to a race. In January 2023, we debunked a false claim that a Google product designed to compete with Apple's AirTag and Samsung's SmartTag was named the "G-Spot."

Emery, David. "Did Trump Say It Will Be a 'Bloodbath for the Country' If He Doesn't Get Elected?" Snopes , 17 Mar. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-bloodbath-for-country/.

How Google's Featured Snippets Work - Google Search Help . https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/9351707?hl=en. Accessed 22 Mar. 2024.

Learn about Dictionary Boxes on Google - Google Search Help . https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/10106608. Accessed 22 Mar. 2024.

"Ranking Results – How Google Search Works." Google Search - Discover How Google Search Works , https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2024.

"---." Google Search - Discover How Google Search Works , https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/how-search-works/ranking-results/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2024.

Kasprak, Alex. "Is Google Maps Adding Feature That Lets Drivers Challenge Each Other To a Race?" Snopes , 21 June 2023, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/google-maps-request-to-race-drivers/.

---. "Is Google's 'G-Spot' a Real Product?" Snopes , 30 Jan. 2023, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/google-g-spot/.

By Aleksandra Wrona

Aleksandra Wrona is a reporting fellow for Snopes, based in the Warsaw area.

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isekai noun

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What does the noun isekai mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun isekai . See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

How is the noun isekai pronounced?

British english, u.s. english, where does the noun isekai come from.

Earliest known use

The earliest known use of the noun isekai is in the 2010s.

OED's earliest evidence for isekai is from 2018, in Publishers' Weekly .

isekai is a borrowing from Japanese.

Etymons: Japanese isekai .

Nearby entries

• i-scole, n. a1175
• ISDN, n. 1974–
• -ise, suffix¹
• -ise, suffix²
• I'se, phr. 1584–
• i-seche, v. Old English–1275
• i-seggen, v. Old English–1275
• Isegrim, n. a1300–
• i-sehtne, v. c1175
• iseidomal, adj. 1842–
• isekai, n. 2018–
• isel | izle, n. Old English–
• i-sele, adj. c1275
• i-seli, adj. Old English–1275
• i-selth, n. Old English–1250
• i-seme, v. Old English–1275
• i-semeliche, adv. c1275
• i-send, v. Old English–1400
• isene, adj. Old English–1500
• isenergic, adj. & n. 1902–
• isenthalpic, adj. 1925–

The diagram posits the existence of two worlds, our familiar one of physical matter..and the ‘other world’ (isekai..) whose composite units are not known.

Meaning & use

Isekai , a fantasy subgenre featuring stories in which ordinary people are transported to a magical world.

An isekai with an unconventional premise, ‘How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom’, might prove to be one of the better isekai shows to come out in recent years.

I am making a..fantasy RPG with Isekai protagonist.

• K/S 1978– A subgenre of fan fiction, originally published in science fiction fanzines and now esp. online, in which the Star Trek characters Kirk and Spock…
• slipstream 1989– Literary Criticism . Fiction which, while not classified as science fiction, engages to some extent with scientific or futuristic subject matter, esp. …
• isekai 2018– A Japanese genre of science or fantasy fiction featuring a protagonist who is transported to or reincarnated in a different, strange, or…

Pronunciation

• ð th ee
• ɬ rhingy ll

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence <petal> /ˈpɛtl/ but <petally> /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

• a trap, bath
• ɑː start, palm, bath
• ɔː thought, force
• ᵻ (/ɪ/-/ə/)
• ᵿ (/ʊ/-/ə/)

Other symbols

• The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
• The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
• Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here .

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in <bitter>

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence <petal> /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but <petally> /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

• i fleece, happ y
• æ trap, bath
• ɑ lot, palm, cloth, thought
• ɔ cloth, thought
• ɔr north, force
• ə strut, comm a
• ər nurse, lett er
• ɛ(ə)r square
• æ̃ sal on

Simple Text Respell

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

• arr carry (British only)
• a(ng) gratin
• o lot (British only)
• orr sorry (British only)
• o(ng) salon

Variant forms

Entry history for isekai, n..

isekai, n. was first published in March 2024.

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 isekai, n. in March 2024.

Please submit your feedback for isekai, n.

Please include your email address if you are happy to be contacted about your feedback. OUP will not use this email address for any other purpose.

Citation details

Factsheet for isekai, n., browse entry.

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having no legal force

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