bibliography

noun

bib·​li·​og·​ra·​phy ˌbi-blē-ˈä-grə-fē 

plural bibliographies

1

: the history, identification, or description of writings or publications

2

a

: a list often with descriptive or critical notes of writings relating to a particular subject, period, or author

a bibliography of modern poetry

b

: a list of works written by an author or printed by a publishing house

compiled a complete bibliography of John Donne

3

: the works or a list of the works referred to in a text or consulted by the author in its production

The book's bibliography contains over 400 items.

bibliographic

ˌbi-blē-ə-ˈgra-fik 

adjective

or less commonly bibliographical

ˌbi-blē-ə-ˈgra-fi-kəl 

bibliographically

ˌbi-blē-ə-ˈgra-fi-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Examples of bibliography in a Sentence

The instructor provided the students with an excellent bibliography on local history.

The book includes a lengthy bibliography.

Recent Examples on the Web

The site does offer some significant freebies with every order, like a bibliography, title page, and formatting. —Rowan Briggs, The Mercury News, 25 Feb. 2025

Historical biography and the civil rights bibliography take most of my time these days. —New York Times, 20 Feb. 2025

This annotated bibliography introduces readers to scholarship in the field. —JSTOR Daily, 8 Jan. 2025

Teaching Tips Uncover more of the archaeological findings of Çatalhöyük: Visit the Çatalhöyük Research Project website, which contains archive reports, illustrations, photographs, an extensive bibliography, and more. —The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 10 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

probably from New Latin bibliographia, from Greek, the copying of books, from bibli- + -graphia -graphy

First Known Use

1689, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for bibliography

• choreography
• chromatography
• crystallography
• hagiography
• iconography
• lexicography
• metallography
• myelography
• oceanography
• physiography
• plethysmography
• polarography

Kids Definition

bibliography

noun

bib·​li·​og·​ra·​phy ˌbib-lē-ˈäg-rə-fē 

plural bibliographies

: a list of writings about a subject or author or by an author

bibliographic

ˌbib-lē-ə-ˈgraf-ik 

adjective

or bibliographical

-ˈgraf-i-kəl