chronicle

/ˈkrɑnəkəl/

/ˈkrɒnɪkəl/

Other forms: chronicles; chronicled; chronicling

To chronicle an event is to record it as it happens, and a chronicle is a record of those events. If your grandmother took the time to chronicle the details of her 1910 journey to Japan, you can read her chronicle today.

To chronicle something is to describe past or current events. Chronicle is related to chronological and comes from the Greek ta khronika, which means “annals of time.” Events are usually chronicled in the order in which they occurred. The noun chronicle is a record of things that happened — told in chronological order, like the diary you kept in elementary school. It is a chronicle of those years.

Definitions of chronicle

1. noun

   a record or narrative description of past events
   synonyms: account, history, story

   types:

   ancient history

   a history of the ancient world

   etymology

   a history of a word

   case history

   detailed record of the background of a person or group under study or treatment

   historical document, historical paper, historical record

   writing having historical value (as opposed to fiction or myth etc.)

   annals, chronological record

   a chronological account of events in successive years

   biography, life, life history, life story

   an account of the series of events making up a person's life

   recital

   a detailed account or description of something

   folk etymology

   a popular but erroneous etymology

   family history

   part of a patient's medical history in which questions are asked in an attempt to find out whether the patient has hereditary tendencies toward particular diseases

   anamnesis, medical history, medical record

   the case history of a medical patient as recalled by the patient

   autobiography

   a biography of yourself

   hagiography

   a biography that idealizes or idolizes the person (especially a person who is a saint)

   profile

   biographical sketch

   type of:

   record

   anything (such as a document or a phonograph record or a photograph) providing permanent evidence of or information about past events
2. verb

   record in chronological order; make a historical record
   type of:

   enter, put down, record

   make a record of; set down in permanent form