mockumentary

English

Etymology

Blend of mock +‎ documentary.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

mockumentary (plural mockumentaries)

1. (film) A film or television programme presented as if it were a documentary but that is not factual and often a parody or satire.
   • 2010, Douglas Holt, Douglas Cameron, Cultural Strategy: Using Innovative Ideologies to Build Breakthrough Brands, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 345:

     Perlman devised a format inspired by the seminal mockumentary Spinal Tap, where the spot started with an ESPN announcer speaking to camera in a serious, straight voice, framing the story as “real” documentary.

   • 2018, Richard Wallace, Mockumentary Comedy: Performing Authenticity, Springer, →ISBN, page 87:

     The resonances between This is Spinal Tap and other documentary and mockumentary texts is pervasive, […]

Synonyms

• false documentary
• fictional documentary

Translations

programme

• Finnish: mukadokumentti, tekodokumentti
• French: faux documentaire m, documenteur (fr) m, mockumentaire (fr)
• German: Mockumentary (de) m or f or n
• Hungarian: áldokumentumfilm, kitalálmentum
• Portuguese: falso documentário m, pseudodocumentário m
• Russian: мокументальный фильм (mokumentalʹnyj filʹm)

Further reading

• “mockumentary”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.