![](/template/termwiki/images/likesmall.jpg)
Home > Terms > English (EN) > diary
diary
A diary (also called journal) is a record (originally in handwritten format) with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone who keeps a diary is known as a diarist. Diaries undertaken for institutional purposes play a role in many aspects of human civilization, including government records (e.g., Hansard), business ledgers and military records. In British English, the word may also denote a preprinted journal format.
Today the term is generally employed for personal diaries, normally intended to remain private or to have a limited circulation amongst friends or relatives. The word "journal" may be sometimes used for "diary," but generally a diary has (or intends to have) daily entries, whereas journal-writing can be less frequent.
Although a diary may provide information for a memoir, autobiography or biography, it is generally written not with the intention of being published as it stands, but for the author's own use. In recent years, however, there is internal evidence in some diaries (e.g., those of Ned Rorem, Alan Clark, Tony Benn or Simon Gray) that they are written with eventual publication in mind, with the intention of self-vindication (pre- or posthumous) or simply for profit.
By extension the term diary is also used to mean a printed publication of a written diary; and may also refer to other terms of journal including electronic formats (e.g., blogs).
- Part of Speech: noun
- Synonym(s):
- Blossary:
- Industry/Domain: Literature
- Category: Genre
- Organization: Wikipedia
- Product:
- Acronym-Abbreviation:
Other Languages:
Member comments
Terms in the News
Billy Morgan
Sports; Snowboarding
The British snowboarder Billy Morgan has landed the sport’s first ever 1800 quadruple cork. The rider, who represented Great Britain in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was in Livigno, Italy, when he achieved the man-oeuvre. It involves flipping four times, while body also spins with five complete rotations on a sideways or downward-facing axis. The trick ...
Marzieh Afkham
Broadcasting & receiving; News
Marzieh Afkham, who is the country’s first foreign ministry spokeswoman, will head a mission in east Asia, the state news agency reported. It is not clear to which country she will be posted as her appointment has yet to be announced officially. Afkham will only be the second female ambassador Iran has had. Under the last shah’s rule, Mehrangiz Dolatshahi, a ...
Weekly Packet
Language; Online services; Slang; Internet
Weekly Packet or "Paquete Semanal" as it is known in Cuba is a term used by Cubans to describe the information that is gathered from the internet outside of Cuba and saved onto hard drives to be transported into Cuba itself. Weekly Packets are then sold to Cuban's without internet access, allowing them to obtain information just days - and sometimes hours - after it ...
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
Banking; Investment banking
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is an international financial institution established to address the need in Asia for infrastructure development. According to the Asian Development Bank, Asia needs $800 billion each year for roads, ports, power plants or other infrastructure projects before 2020. Originally proposed by China in 2013, a signing ...
Spartan
Online services; Internet
Spartan is the codename given to the new Microsoft Windows 10 browser that will replace Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer. The new browser will be built from the ground up and disregard any code from the IE platform. It has a new rendering engine that is built to be compatible with how the web is written today. The name Spartan is named after the ...
Featured Terms
Contributor
Featured blossaries
Browers Terms By Category
- Biochemistry(4818)
- Genetic engineering(2618)
- Biomedical(4)
- Green biotechnology(4)
- Blue biotechnology(1)
Biotechnology(7445) Terms
- Film titles(41)
- Film studies(26)
- Filmmaking(17)
- Film types(13)
Cinema(97) Terms
- Dictionaries(81869)
- Encyclopedias(14625)
- Slang(5701)
- Idioms(2187)
- General language(831)
- Linguistics(739)
Language(108024) Terms
- Skin care(179)
- Cosmetic surgery(114)
- Hair style(61)
- Breast implant(58)
- Cosmetic products(5)
Beauty(417) Terms
- Cosmetics(80)