documentary film
- noun
- /ˌdɒkjʊˈmɛnˌtɛri fɪlm/
- The documentary film "13th" explores the history of racial inequality in the United States.
- a television documentary film
- a popular documentary film
- documentary film on the history
Top five documentary films that every aspiring filmmaker should watch.
- Top five documentary films that every aspiring filmmaker should watch.
- But first we want to show you some some documentary films that have been made about science.
- So this student went over and did the documentary film for him.
- Now, since then, that work of hers has become a book and then a documentary film.
- So, you know, we went, we, we, we touched on the idea of fairness and accuracy in the documentary film.
- Hey, there's a American documentary film crew there poking around.
- And I don't want to say documentary films aren't important to me, but apparently not that important like I do still.
Examples
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Actor Robert de Niro has reversed course in a highly controversial documentary film.
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Top five documentary films that every aspiring filmmaker should watch.
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But first we want to show you some some documentary films that have been made about science.
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Hey, how about we make a documentary film to go along with the record?
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Some of these stories are being told in a new documentary film called "American Winter."
Blog text (10) -
The discovery was also made the subject of a documentary film shown on American television.
Academic text (1998) -
I've been making documentary films since college.
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Poland under state socialism had a large film studio devoted to the production of documentary films.
Academic text (2016) -
He is working on a documentary film called: "What in the world are they spraying?"
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Former pharmaceutical sales rep turned whistleblower K.L. Carlson was featured in the documentary film "Making a Killing."
Blog text (24)
Synonyms
A film or TV program that shows real people and events
How Factual
Surface Forms
Morphology
The adjective 'documentary' (presenting factual information) directly modifies 'film' (a movie), so the combined meaning — a movie that presents facts about real events or people — is compositionally predictable. This adjective+noun pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows standard English modification rules, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand the phrase.
Etymology
Documentary film comes from the idea of a 'document' as a record of facts, so early filmmakers used film to record real people, places, and events. That's why a documentary or film of this kind means 'a film that shows real events, people, or issues'.