1
: an official note or report : memorandum
2
a
: a narrative composed from personal experience
every memoir reminds us of the faraway and long ago, of loss and change, of persons and places beyond recall—
Abigail McCarthy
Abigail McCarthy
b
: autobiography
—usually used in plural
His memoirs recall his student days at Harvard.
c
: biography
his memoir of his longtime friend
3
a
: an account of something noteworthy : report
the work described and discussed in this memoir represent a first-class investigation—J. A. Steers
J. A. Steers
b
memoirs plural
: the record of the proceedings of a learned society
Examples of memoir in a Sentence
a retired politician who is writing his memoirs
He has written a memoir of his mother.
a memoir of Hollywood in the 1930s
Recent Examples on the Web
Billy Zane stars as Marlon Brando—a role he was born to play, look at him—in Bill Fishman’s adaptation of a memoir by architect Bernard Judge, whom Brando hired to build a compound on an uninhabited island in Tahiti in the ’70s.
—Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Charrière, whose writing has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar and The Sunday Times among other titles, is publishing her first memoir in June next year, while Arçay is readying her swimwear debut for spring.
—Ari Stark, Footwear News, 4 Sep. 2025
Earlier this month, Christine opened up to PEOPLE about how her new memoir offers an inside look at their family in a way that fans have never seen before.
—Natalia Senanayake, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2025
In his 2016 memoir, Set the Boy Free, Marr discussed the possibility of reuniting with Morrissey in 2008.
—Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for memoir
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Literary Hub, 4 Sep. 2025
Charrière, whose writing has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar and The Sunday Times among other titles, is publishing her first memoir in June next year, while Arçay is readying her swimwear debut for spring.
—Ari Stark, Footwear News, 4 Sep. 2025
Earlier this month, Christine opened up to PEOPLE about how her new memoir offers an inside look at their family in a way that fans have never seen before.
—Natalia Senanayake, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2025
In his 2016 memoir, Set the Boy Free, Marr discussed the possibility of reuniting with Morrissey in 2008.
—Nina Corcoran, Pitchfork, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for memoir
Cite this Entry
“Memoir.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/memoir. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
memoir
noun
mem·oir
ˈmem-ˌwär 
-ˌwȯ(ə)r
1
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