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 represents 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
Meanwhile, in his posthumous memoir Last Rites, published in October, Ozzy opened up about his mortality, explaining that Sharon and their kids — including daughters Aimee, 42, and Kelly, 40, and son Jack, 39 — would often shut down any conversation about his death.
—Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 11 Dec. 2025
Shannon also released a memoir, Hello, Molly!
—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
In her memoir, the story of her life converges with the story of her country—a tale at once triumphant and tragic.
—Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 10 Dec. 2025
Due in September 2025, Trip of a Lifetime promises to present personal memoirs coupled with a self-help framework.
—Nia Bowers, USA Today, 10 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for memoir
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Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 11 Dec. 2025
Shannon also released a memoir, Hello, Molly!
—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025
In her memoir, the story of her life converges with the story of her country—a tale at once triumphant and tragic.
—Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 10 Dec. 2025
Due in September 2025, Trip of a Lifetime promises to present personal memoirs coupled with a self-help framework.
—Nia Bowers, USA Today, 10 Dec. 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 12 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
memoir
noun
mem·oir
ˈmem-ˌwär 
-ˌwȯ(ə)r
1
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