Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Documentary |
DocumentaryAdjective1. Relating to or consisting of or derived from documents. Noun1. A film or TV program presenting the facts about a person or event. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "documentary" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references) |
Synonyms: DocumentarySynonyms: documental (adj), docudrama (n), documentary film (n), infotainment (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Evidence | Oral evidence, documentary evidence, hearsay evidence, external evidence, extrinsic evidence, internal evidence, intrinsic evidence, circumstantial evidence, cumulative evidence, ex parte evidence, presumptive evidence, collateral evidence, constructive evidence; proof; (demonstration); evidence in chief. |
The Drama | Western, horse opera; flick; spy film, love story, adventure film, documentary, nature film; pornographic film, smoker, skin flick, X-rated film. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Documentary |
| English words defined with "documentary": Alfred Eisenstaedt ♦ demonstrably, documentation ♦ Eisenstaedt ♦ Godard ♦ incontrovertibly, infomercial ♦ Jean Luc Godard ♦ muniments ♦ provably ♦ support. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "documentary": additional amounts, amount claimed, auto-abstract, automatic abstract ♦ background story ♦ charges claimed, contributed paper ♦ endorsement of drawings, Export Draft ♦ indexing by weights ♦ machine abstract ♦ paradigmatic relation ♦ Records, reimbursing bank ♦ syntagmatic relation ♦ weighted indexing. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | They're doing a documentary on my life. (Killer's Mind; writing credit: Chantal Marie) Nah, I'm not in the mood for a historical documentary. (Futurama; writing credit: Lance Smith; Carl Colpaert) No, Frylock, The Highlander was a documentary, and events happened in real time. (Aqua Teen Hunger Force; writing credit: Matt Maiellaro; Dave Willis) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The West Wing Documentary Special (2002) Salò Documentary (2001) Our House: A Very Real Documentary About Kids of Gay & Lesbian Parents (2000) New York: A Documentary Film (1999) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies |
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Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A local middle school student videotapes the soil testing procedures at the future dam removal site as part of a documentary the school is producing. Later, students from the same middle school will act as volunteers to plant vegetation along the stream bed after the dam is removed. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |  | A NOAA contract videographer, Tom Kane, documents the soil testing process and videotapes the student's documentary production efforts. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |
 | At the sediment sampling site upstream of the Billington Street dam. dam removal site for a documentary the school is producing about the restoration work. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |  | A technician is interviewed by a local middle school student working on a documentary about the dam removal. prior to the dam removal. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |
 | Northwest film premiere : Viva Portugal : a prize winning documentary film on Portugal, 1974 ... Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The National Organization for Women presents a multi-media documentary -- Our North American foremothers, written and produced by Anne Grant ... Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Protest : a graphic documentary of protest against the war in Vietnam, 1965-1969. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | Decisions will be arrived at on documentary evidence, but it will be open to the Tribunal to hear the parties in person, or according to their preference by their representatives approved by the two Governments, or by the agent referred to above, who shall be competent to intervene along with the party or to reopen and maintain a claim abandoned by the same. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Using a documentary credit with a new client is highly recommended. (references) | |
On a procedural level, most imports of telecommunications equipment are subject to normal documentary requirements for international sales transactions. (references) | ||
Most Czech firms are familiar with common methods of international payment, such as letters of credit, documentary collections, and wire transfer/cash in advance. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Belarus | The author of the documentary asserted that "Catholicism is a threat to the very existence of the Belarusian nationality, its psychological health and security" and urged the Government to take steps to protect Orthodoxy. (references) |
Belarus | In February the B-TR aired a documentary entitled "Dushekhvaty" (Soul Snatchers), which alleged that Catholic communities were eroding citizens' national-religious consciousness by urging them to deny the faith of their ancestors. (references) | |
Singapore | The Films Act bans political advertising using films or videos, as well as "films directed towards any political end." In June police warned three lecturers at a local university that a documentary they made about opposition politician J.B. Jeyaretnam may have violated the Films Act. (references) | |
Economic History | Oman | The foreign firm must supply documentary evidence of its registration in its home country, its actual headquarters location, capital, and principal activities. (references) |
Indonesia | Recent reforms have freed investors from some cumbersome documentary requirements resulting from the need to work with other departments and local governments. (references) | |
Russia | However, strict documentary requirements applied to tax deductions for business expenses make it very unlikely Russians would be able to take tax deductions for bribes. (references) | |
Human Rights | Mexico | Based on the Napoleonic Code, the trial system consists of a series of fact-gathering hearings at which the court receives documentary evidence or testimony. (references) |
Belarus | In 1997 Zavadsky and Sheremet had been arrested by government authorities for crossing the border illegally while filming a documentary critical of the Lukashenka regime. (references) | |
Afghanistan | There was documentary evidence that Taliban forces, particularly religious police, threatened and beat women for what they considered immodest dress, including failure to wear a full body covering. (references) | |
Political Economy | PHILIPPINES | According to BOC, green lane shipments are not subject to any documentary or inspection requirements. (references) |
PHILIPPINES | BOC officials say that shipments channeled through the yellow lane will require a documentary review, while red lane shipments will require physical inspection at the port. (references) | |
VENEZUELA | U.S. exporters have had trouble in complying with the documentary requirements for the issuance of COVENIN certificates Investment Barriers: Foreign investment is restricted in the petroleum sector, with the exploration, production, refining, transportation, storage, and foreign and domestic sale of hydrocarbons reserved to the government and its entities. (references) | |
Political Rights | Tanzania | In 2000 local authorities forced persons attempting to register to vote in Mwanza to provide documentary proof that they had paid local government taxes before they allowed them to register, even though there is no legal requirement for voters to prove payment of taxes to register. (references) |
Trade | Czech Rep | Czech firms are familiar with letters of credit, documentary collections, and wire transfer/cash in advance. (references) |
South Africa | The most commonly used documentary credits are: 1) irrevocable credits; and 2) confirmed irrevocable credits. (references) | |
Women | Guatemala | In May CONAPREVI announced that it had developed a uniform and simplified documentary process for victims to file complaints of domestic violence. (references) |
Worker Rights | Ukraine | In October national television premiered a documentary film, produced with foreign assistance, which highlighted the danger of trafficking and reportedly generated increased public awareness. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
James Dobson | Well, I was on the plane last night coming to Los Angeles from Washington, D.C., and I didn't see the program that was on, the documentary, but I've been hearing about it all day and, of course, I've been interested in him from a distance. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Documentary" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 70.11% of the time. "Documentary" is used about 638 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 70.11% | 448 | 12,964 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 29.42% | 188 | 22,417 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.47% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 638 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "documentary": ( documentary unit ♦ advice of a documentary collection message ♦ direct amendment of a documentary credit message ♦ direct transfer of a documentary credit message ♦ documentary bill ♦ documentary bill of exchange ♦ documentary check ♦ documentary credit transfer information message ♦ documentary draft ♦ documentary evidence ♦ documentary film ♦ documentary language ♦ documentary novel ♦ request for a documentary collection message. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "documentary": documentary-like, documentary-maker, documentary-makers, documentary-style. | |
Ending with "documentary": drama-documentary. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "documentary"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | dokumentar (short film), përmbledhje dokumentesh, i dokumentuar, film dokumentar (record-film), emision radioteleviziv dokumentar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كتابي (graphic, graphical, written), موضوعي (dry, impartial, literal, nonpartisan, objective, objectivist, outer, thematic, topical), وثائقي, توثيقي (notarial). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | документален филм, документален, доказателствен (evidential, probative). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 新闻纪录片. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | dokumentární. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | dokumentationsproces (documentary process, documentation process), dokumentarisk datakommunikation (tele-informatics in documentary applications), Dokumentationspersonale (documentary personal), dokumentationssprogs ordningssystem for betegnelser (term arrangement system of a documentary language), dokumentinkasso (documentary collection, documentary credit collection), dokumentkontrol (documentary check), dokumentsamlingsregister (documentary index), dokumenttratte (bill with attached documents, document bill, documentary bill, documentary bill of exchange, documentary draft), dramatiseret dokumentarfilm (docudrama, dramatized documentary), dokumentation (descriptive document, documentary evidence, documentation, evidence, records), skattedokumentation i euro (documentary evidence in euros for tax purposes, written proofs in euros for tax declarations), adkomstdokument (documentary evidence), bevis for,at man har haft fælles bopæal (to furnish documentary evidence that they have cohabited), bekræftet rembursen (confirmed credit, confirmed documentary credit, confirmed letter of credit), at tilskynde til at skabe et bredere udvalg af spille-og dokumentarfilm (to encourage to effect wider distribution of full-length and documentary films), at overveje maader,hvorpaa man i Europa vil kunne udarbejde et katalog over dokumentarfilm af kulturel og videnskabelig art (to consider ways of compiling in Europe an inventory of documentary films of a cultural or scientific nature). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | documentaire taal (documentary language), DIS (Customs Information System, Documental information system, Documentary Information System, Drug Information System), docudrama (docudrama, dramatized documentary), documentair incasso (documentary collection, documentary credit collection), documentair register (documentary index), Documentaire Informatie Systeem (Documentary Information System), documentaire wissel (bill with attached documents, document bill, documentary bill, documentary bill of exchange, documentary draft), documentatiepersoneel (documentary personal), documentatieproces (documentary process, documentation process), documentaire film (docudrama, dramatized documentary), stukken die tot bewijs kunnen dienen (documentary evidence), bewijsstuk (corpus delicti, document in proof, document in support, documentary evidence, evidence, exhibit, proof, source document, supporting documents, voucher), bewijsstuk waaruit blijkt dat zij een gemeenschappelijke woning betrekken (to furnish documentary evidence that they have cohabited), bewijsstukken bij belastingaangiften in euro's (documentary evidence in euros for tax purposes, written proofs in euros for tax declarations), Centrum voor informatie en documentatie van de Europese Gemeenschappen (CIRCE, European Communities Information and Documentary Research Centre), CIRCE (Circe), controle van de documenten (documentary check), tele-informatica op het gebied van de documentatie (tele-informatics in documentary applications), Permanente Commissie Documentaire Informatieverzorging (Standing Committee on Documentary Information Systems), aanmoedigen om een ruimere verspreiding te bewerkstelligen van speelfilms en documentaire films (to encourage to effect wider distribution of full-length and documentary films), kenmerken-rangschikkingssysteem (term arrangement system of a documentary language), wissel met aangehechte documenten (bill with attached documents, document bill, documentary bill), het overwegen van methoden voor het samenstellen in Europa van een lijst van documentaire films van culturele of wetenschappelijke aard (to consider ways of compiling in Europe an inventory of documentary films of a cultural or scientific nature), geconfirmeerd accreditief (confirmed credit, confirmed documentary credit, confirmed letter of credit), verduistering van documenten van de burgerlijke stand (destroying documentary evidence of civil status at the registry of births, marriages and deaths). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | opetuselokuva (educational film). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | documentaire (documentary film). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | dokumentarisch (documental), dokumentarfilm (documentary film), urkundlich (true). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | βασιζόμενοσ επί εγγράφων, ντοκυμαντέρ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | מסמכי, תעו"י, תעו"תי, תעו"" (attestation, bill, certificate, credential, diploma, document, record, report, ticket), צלומי תעו"". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | dokumentumfilm (documentary film). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | dokumenter. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | documentario. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 記録文学 (reportage), ドイツ連邦共'国 (a do-it-yourself store, cancel at the last minute, Debussy, dock, docking, doctor, doctor course, doctrine, document, documental, documentary drama, documentation, dodecaphony, dodge ball, doeskin, dog racing, dogfight, doggie bag, dogma, dogmatic, dogmatism, dogmatist, doily, do-it-yourself, dominant, domino, donor, doom, doo-wop, dot, dot map, dot matrix, dot printer, dwell, dwelling, Federal Republic of Germany, referee's stop, thud, to be noisy, to make noise, yakuza sword). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ドキュメンタリー , きろくぶ"がく (reportage). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 기록영". (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | scruit (written), scannane feanishagh, fillym feanishagh, docmadagh. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norwegian | dokumentar. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | ocumentaryday documentário. (various references) documentar, film documentar. (various references) документальный. (various references) dokumentarani film, dokumentaran. (various references) documental (documental, footage). (various references) dokumentärfilm (non fiction, record-film), dokumentär. (various references) ที่เกี่ยวกับเอกสาร, าพยนตร์สารค"ี. (various references) belgesel film (documentary film), belgesel, belgeli (certificated, documented, qualified), belgelere dayanan. (various references) освітній (educational, educative, instructional), документальний фільм, документальний (nonfictional). (various references) phim t i liệu (documental, record film). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words ending with "documentary": nondocumentary, semidocumentary. (additional references) | |
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"Documentary" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Documentor. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "documentary" (pronounced dÄ'kyume"nterē, dÄ'kyume"nerē, dÄ'kyuwme"nterē , or dÄ'kyuwme"nerē) |
| 7 | -u m e" n t er ē | alimentary, complimentary, parliamentary, rudimentary, sedimentary, supplementary, testamentary. |
| 4 | -n t er ē | effrontery, splintery. |
| 3 | -t er ē | adultery, artery, battery, blustery, buttery, contradictory, coterie, directory, eatery, factory, flattery, glittery, history, introductory, jittery, lottery, mastery, mystery, notary, olfactory, peremptory, perfunctory, pottery, premonitory, protohistory, rectory, refractory, rotary, satisfactory, trajectory, unsatisfactory, upholstery, valedictory, victory, watery. |
| 4 | -e" n er ē | plenary. |
| 3 | -n er ē | binary, cannery, chicanery, fernery, finery, greenery, gunnery, joinery, machinery, nunnery, ornery, refinery, scenery, winery. |
| 6 | -m e" n t er ē | alimentary, complimentary, parliamentary, rudimentary, sedimentary, supplementary, testamentary. |
| 4 | -n t er ē | effrontery, splintery. |
| 3 | -t er ē | adultery, artery, battery, blustery, buttery, contradictory, coterie, directory, eatery, factory, flattery, glittery, history, introductory, jittery, lottery, mastery, mystery, notary, olfactory, peremptory, perfunctory, pottery, premonitory, protohistory, rectory, refractory, rotary, satisfactory, trajectory, unsatisfactory, upholstery, valedictory, victory, watery. |
| 4 | -e" n er ē | plenary. |
| 3 | -n er ē | binary, cannery, chicanery, fernery, finery, greenery, gunnery, joinery, machinery, nunnery, ornery, refinery, scenery, winery. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-d-e-m-n-o-r-t-u-y" | |
-2 letters: mucronate, undercoat. | |
-3 letters: aeroduct, amounted, aroynted, autodyne, cartoned, centaury, cometary, cornuted, courante, crayoned, deaconry, democrat, document, dormancy, educator, enactory, monetary, mordancy, numeracy, outdance, outdream, outraced, outrance, romanced, routeman, trounced, udometry, uncoated, uncrated, underact, undreamt, untraced. | |
-4 letters: acronym, anymore, ardency, automen, candour, caromed, cautery, centaur, centrum, century, comrade, cordate, cornute, counted, counter, country, courant. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-d-e-m-n-o-r-t-u-y" | |
+2 letters: documentarily. | |
+3 letters: nondocumentary. | |
+4 letters: semidocumentary. | |
+5 letters: undemocratically. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)44 6F 63 75 6D 65 6E 74 61 72 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)-.. --- -.-. ..- -- . -. - .- .-. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000100 01101111 01100011 01110101 01101101 01100101 01101110 01110100 01100001 01110010 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)D o c u m e n t a r y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0044 006F 0063 0075 006D 0065 006E 0074 0061 0072 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)3881698779718086678491 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Historic | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Spoken 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Orthography 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
