dossier
/ˈdɒsɪə
/ /ˈdɒsɪeɪ /noun
A collection of documents about a particular person, event, or subject: we have a dossier on him a dossier of complaints...
- Inside were various dossiers and files with letters and family documents.
- They will be transferred to the Department of Transport with a dossier of evidence about our campaign.
- Yes, there are open questions in all the dossiers, certainly, but the greatest number are on the biological sector.
Synonyms
file, report, case history, case study, casebook;
account, notes, document(s), documentation, data, information, evidence;
annal(s), archive(s), chronicle(s), diary, journal, memoir, register, log, logbook;
inventory, list, catalogue
rare muniments
Origin
Late 19th century: from French, denoting a bundle of papers with a label on the back, from dos 'back', based on Latin dorsum.
The word dossier is from a French word for a bundle of papers with a label on the back, from dos ‘back’, based on Latin dorsum. Endorse (Late Middle English) goes back to the same idea and root. A document on Iraq and the evidence for weapons of mass destruction was distributed to journalists by the British government in 2003. When it was found to contain multiple inaccuracies the press rapidly named it the dodgy dossier.