How to Use true-life in a Sentence

true-life

adjective
  • One of the world’s great true-life train heist stories is set to return to the big screen in China.
    — Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Mar. 2024
  • The result is a true-life tale of fame and friendship stranger (and funnier) than fiction.
    — Mia Galuppo, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Jan. 2024
  • Antle’s sentence is the final true-life chapter of the Tiger King saga.
    — Sydney Lake, Fortune, 8 July 2025
  • But its true-life story and wider streaming release are a reminder of the social history of the TV movie.
    — Matt Brennan, Los Angeles Times, 20 Dec. 2024
  • Books by doctor-writers carry a special charge because of the true-life nature of the drama.
    — Danielle Ofri, New Yorker, 7 June 2025
  • This true-life tale about perseverance, compassion and second chances cuts right to the quick.
    — Courtney Howard, Variety, 13 Mar. 2024
  • Sometimes users share fan fiction inspired by true-life shootings.
    — Odette Yousef, NPR, 8 Mar. 2025
  • Andrew Lazar, who last worked on true-life swimming drama Nyad, is producing.
    — Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 July 2024
  • From haunted houses and possessed dolls to true-life exorcisms, check out these 10 horror movies based on real-life events.
    — Stephanie Sengwe, Peoplemag, 30 Oct. 2023
  • The harrowing true-life tale follows Glass on a perilous fur-trading expedition in the 1820s.
    — Lauren Sanchez, Vogue, 19 Dec. 2024
  • The film’s story is loosely based on the true-life reunion of Song, her American husband and her Korean school pal, which took place when the director was 29.
    — Robert Ito, New York Times, 31 May 2023
  • But after a promising showing at last November’s Gotham Awards, the true-life prison drama struggled to gain traction.
    — Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 23 Jan. 2025
  • What attracts you to telling these sensational true-life stories?
    — Nigel Smith, Peoplemag, 15 Sep. 2023
  • Released on Christmas Day, the true-life sports drama earned an A Cinemascore and is building word of mouth at the holiday box office.
    — Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 31 Dec. 2024
  • Like Cooper, Malek was a cisgender straight man playing a true-life bisexual.
    — Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times, 6 Dec. 2023
  • The fanfare is somewhat prophetic as Gadd’s character, Donny, based on his true-life experiences, spends the greater part of the show chasing fame as a writer and comedian.
    — Brande Victorian, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Aug. 2024
  • There was always going to be a comedown after the true-life emotionality that powered Furious 7 — and Fate was mostly seed-planting toward the ninth and 10th films.
    — Derek Lawrence, EW.com, 6 Sep. 2024
  • Here, Pohlad has found another true-life music-industry story about family and the slippery nature of success.
    — Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 4 Aug. 2023
  • The title track – the last song on the album – does follow a Boss-esque blueprint of vivid storytelling (with the serious true-life recounting of a near-fatal car crash as a teen), but the music leans more Killers sheen than Springsteen muscularity.
    — Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 22 June 2025
  • Levinson animates many of Costello’s monologues about his life and work with a blend of archival and faux-archival photographs and footage, creating and then animating snapshots of history as a nod to the authenticity of this true-life tale.
    — Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 21 Mar. 2025
  • This true-life riches-to-rags-to-rebirth saga, chronicled in Lauren Greenfield’s 2012 documentary of the same title, offers more in the way of sociopolitical critique than is usual for a mass-market entertainment.
    — Gordon Cox, Variety, 2 Aug. 2024
  • Both Noah and Rebecca are dealing with real problems, true-life stuff, the kind of things coming at all of us.
    — Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 22 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'true-life.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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