Meaning & use
bio
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A short piece of writing that tells about a person's life, work and achievements, such as on a website or book cover.
Grammar: Informal short form of biography: write a bio, read her bio.
Patterns
- write a bio
- a bio of someone
- in your bio
The speaker's bio was printed in the conference program.
I need a two-line bio for my profile page.
She updated the bio on her account to mention her new job.
nouncountableinformal
A full-length book or film telling the story of a real person's life.
Grammar: Informal; usually said of a film or book about a famous person.
Patterns
- a bio of someone
- a bio film
I watched a bio about a famous jazz singer last night.
The library has a new bio of the first astronaut.
That actor is hoping to star in a bio about a boxing champion.
noununcountableinformal
Biology as a school or university subject.
Grammar: Students' slang, no article: I have bio at nine.
Patterns
- have bio
- bio class
We have a bio test on Friday.
Her favorite class is bio because of the lab work.
I stayed up late revising for bio.
Word forms
| plural | bios |
|---|
Common combinations
- short bio
- Please send a short bio of about fifty words.
- author bio
- The author bio on the back cover mentions her three novels.
- Instagram bio
- He put his business email in his Instagram bio.
- bio page
- Each teacher has a bio page on the school website.
- speaker bio
- The organizers asked every guest for a speaker bio.
Synonyms and how they differ
- biography
- Biography is the full form and suits a whole book or formal text, while bio is the casual short version.
- profile
- A profile is a brief description or a page about someone, and it can stress current activity more than life history.
- résumé
- A résumé lists jobs and qualifications for an employer, whereas a bio is written to introduce a person to readers.
- biopic
- A biopic is specifically a film about a real life, while bio can mean text as well.
Word family
- biography noun
- the story of a person's life written by someone else
- autobiography noun
- a person's life story written by themselves
- biographer noun
- a writer of someone's biography
- biopic noun
- a film about a real person's life
Commonly confused: bio or biography?
bio vs biography
Use biography for a full, formal life story; bio is a casual short form, usually a few lines.
Practice
The festival asked each performer to send a 50-word ___ for the website.
Choose one answer.
A bio is a short description of a person's life and work. A biome is an ecosystem and a biopsy is a medical test, while bias does not fit the context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bio”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.