memoir

noun

mem·​oir ˈmem-ˌwär How to pronounce memoir (audio)
-ˌwȯr
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 recallAbigail 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 investigationJ. A. Steers
b
memoirs plural : the record of the proceedings of a learned society
memoirist noun

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Now, nearly three decades later, she’s written a memoir full of the personal and professional lessons from her early beginnings to building her award-winning digital marketing agency. Pam Windsor, Forbes, 3 Dec. 2024 This scene, set in the remote Andes in 1952, gets limited page time in Guevara’s scrappy coming-of-age memoir, which his family released posthumously in 1992. Mark Johanson, Robb Report, 30 Nov. 2024 On the day of her death, Wood, Wagner and Walken had dinner and drinks on land and returned to the yacht around 10 p.m., per Wagner’s 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart. Alex Gurley, People.com, 29 Nov. 2024 The outlet reported that his memoir, A Promised Land, sold around 890,000 copies in one day of its release. Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 28 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for memoir 

Word History

Etymology

Middle French memoire, from memoire memory, from Latin memoria

First Known Use

1571, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of memoir was in 1571

Dictionary Entries Near memoir

Cite this Entry

“Memoir.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/memoir. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.

Kids Definition

memoir

noun
mem·​oir ˈmem-ˌwär How to pronounce memoir (audio)
-ˌwȯ(ə)r
1
a
: a story of a personal experience
b
: autobiography
usually used in plural
c
2

More from Merriam-Webster on memoir

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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