nonfiction.

Writing presented as an account of real people, events or information rather than invented fiction.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• narrative nonfiction
• nonfiction writing

On the page

Narrative nonfiction used storytelling techniques while making factual claims.

The work was classified as nonfiction, but its assertions still needed checking.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: artistic orientation, figurative interpretation, life writing, narrative knowledge. Disciplines: literary writing, literary analysis, advanced general English. Commonness: moderately common.