non-fiction

non-fiction — noun

1. books, articles, films, or other works that present real people, true events, an

1.nounB1
Definition

books, articles, films, or other works that present real people, true events, and factual information, rather than imaginary stories.

Example

Last summer, Tunde read three non-fiction books about the history of jazz music.

non-fiction + noun (attributive): non-fiction books

On the library's non-fiction shelf, Anjali found a biography of a Japanese scientist.

attributive use: non-fiction shelf

Common collocations
  • non-fiction book
  • non-fiction work
  • non-fiction writer
  • non-fiction section
  • non-fiction genre
  • non-fiction film
  • read non-fiction
  • write non-fiction
  • publish non-fiction
  • piece of non-fiction
  • work of non-fiction
Synonyms
Antonyms
  • fiction

    the opposite genre — invented stories rather than real events

  • fantasy

    a specific fiction genre involving imaginary worlds and magic

Grammar Patterns

non-fiction + noun (attributive)

a + non-fiction (countable use)

Usage Note

Non-fiction is usually uncountable ("She prefers non-fiction over fiction"), but it can be used countably to refer to a single work — especially in publishing or library contexts ("This is a fascinating non-fiction about the space race"). The attributive form (before a noun) is very common: non-fiction book, non-fiction writer, non-fiction section.

Common Mistakes

I borrowed a non-fiction from the library.
I borrowed a non-fiction book from the library.
'Non-fiction' as a genre is uncountable; to refer to one specific work, add a noun like 'book' or 'article'.

Word family

  • non-fictional
    adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Non-fiction is the broadest term, covering any work — books, articles, films, podcasts — that reports on real people and events. 'Factual writing' overlaps but is mostly limited to the written medium (magazine features, textbooks, journalism). 'Documentary' refers specifically to films or television programmes that present factual material, usually with interviews and real footage. 'Creative non-fiction' is a narrower subgenre that uses literary devices — scene-setting, character development, narrative arc — while remaining factually accurate. For example, a news article is factual writing; a documentary film about the same event is a documentary; a book that tells the true story using narrative techniques is creative non-fiction.

non-fiction ↗factual writingdocumentary ↗creative non-fiction

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • work of non-fiction
  • piece of non-fiction
  • non-fiction bestseller list
  • non-fiction section of the library

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Formed by combining the prefix 'non-' (meaning 'not') with 'fiction' (from Latin 'fictio', meaning 'a making, a feigning, a shaping'). The word 'non-fiction' first appeared in English around the 1860s in library catalogues and literary criticism, as a label for the growing number of factual publications that did not fit under 'fiction'.