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
In this conversation, six-foot-two author Jane Smiley (A Thousand Acres, Moo and Lucky) compares notes with her friend and counterpoint, six-foot-two novelist Susan Swan, author of the new memoir Big Girls Don’t Cry about the way Swan’s Amazonian size shaped her life.
—Jane Smiley
june 20, Literary Hub, 20 June 2025
His 2023 memoir, Straight Shooter, is a New York Times bestseller.
—Danyel Smith, Rolling Stone, 18 June 2025
The author’s memoir on her intense relationship with her famed mother, writer Erica Jong.
—The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2025
Readers are diving into memoirs, literary fiction, and big-idea nonfiction, especially stories that ignite real-world conversations.
—Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for memoir
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Jane Smiley
june 20, Literary Hub, 20 June 2025
His 2023 memoir, Straight Shooter, is a New York Times bestseller.
—Danyel Smith, Rolling Stone, 18 June 2025
The author’s memoir on her intense relationship with her famed mother, writer Erica Jong.
—The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2025
Readers are diving into memoirs, literary fiction, and big-idea nonfiction, especially stories that ignite real-world conversations.
—Forbes.com, 17 June 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 29 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
memoir
noun
mem·oir
ˈmem-ˌwär 
-ˌwȯ(ə)r
1
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