hagiographical
1
9.9
- adjective
- /ˌhæɡiəˈɡræfɪkəl/
- Formal
- Critics argued that the book was too hagiographical, portraying its subject as a flawless hero instead of acknowledging his mistakes.
Examples
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In exploring primarily early medieval hagiographical literature, this article shows that children hold a distinct place in the literary construction of the Georgians' conversion to Christianity.
Academic text (2007) -
In the end, Metropolitan Germogen's most important 'contribution for Kazan' was his work as a hagiographical author, producing the texts of the first two local miracle cults.
Academic text (2007) -
Certainly, one needs to read stories like this one also within the confines of hagiographical topoi.
Academic text (2007) -
But Chief's task is not simply hagiographic or demonising.
-
Joan Fisher Box wrote a fine biography of her father, marred only by an understandably hagiographical approach.
Academic text (1991) -
But if one does not see in this incident at Tours "the hand of God and the will of the divine in these crowds and their behavior," one certainly sees it in the disruptive behavior of lay crowds depicted in contemporary hagiographical texts.87 # IV.
Academic text (2018) -
He wants to inform his audience as to time and space, as do hagiographical authors and compilers of the Middle Ages, and like them, he unifies edifying and educational aims.
Academic text (1998) -
It kind of reminds me of an incident many years ago when a mischievous New York Times book editor recruited William F. Buckley to review a hagiographical book about his political nemesis, New York Mayor John Lindsay.
Blog text (30) -
Much traditional commentary in the hagiographical mode would have it so, and isolated quotations can be cited from here and there to support such an interpretation (for Darwin was a complex man who wrestled with deep issues, sometimes in contradictory ways, throughout his life).
Academic text (1991) -
It will be the task of future studies both to examine the broader range of Caucasian hagiographical literature more comprehensively with regard to the topic of children and to expand the investigation to include a fuller evaluation of historiography as a source of information, and then also consider Armenian and Persian sources.
Academic text (2007)
Synonyms
1
9.9
Describing a person like a leader or famous person as perfect while ignoring their faults
Antonyms
How Laudatory
- Formal
5
9.2
- Formal
1
9.9
3
8.1
843
2.8
12
3.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
hagiographical = hagiographic (semi-transparent) = hagio + graph + ic + al
Adding -al to hagiographic is a regular adjective-forming step and the spelling is predictable.
Etymology
Hagiographical comes from the Greek parts hagio- meaning 'holy' or 'saint' and -graphical meaning 'writing', the same idea as biography ('life writing'). Originally it meant 'writing about saints', so calling a modern story hagiographical often means it praises someone like a saint and ignores their faults.