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
The film is based on Luigi Celeste’s memoir about his youth as a far-right militant and the legacy of his toxic, violent upbringing at the hands of his criminal father.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 13 Nov. 2025
Trapped in a prison of her own grief while struggling in vain to produce a follow-up to her hit memoir, Aggie is mired in debt and stuck in a rut — until Nile moves in next door and offers her an intriguing new subject.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 13 Nov. 2025
Earlier this month, after Giuffre’s memoir reignited public attention on Andrew’s links to Epstein, he was officially stripped of his titles in an extraordinary move by his brother, King Charles III.
—Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN Money, 13 Nov. 2025
Its cast has published memoirs and competed in Dancing With the Stars; breakout Taylor Frankie Paul will be the next Bachelorette.
—Judy Berman, Time, 12 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for memoir
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Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 13 Nov. 2025
Trapped in a prison of her own grief while struggling in vain to produce a follow-up to her hit memoir, Aggie is mired in debt and stuck in a rut — until Nile moves in next door and offers her an intriguing new subject.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 13 Nov. 2025
Earlier this month, after Giuffre’s memoir reignited public attention on Andrew’s links to Epstein, he was officially stripped of his titles in an extraordinary move by his brother, King Charles III.
—Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN Money, 13 Nov. 2025
Its cast has published memoirs and competed in Dancing With the Stars; breakout Taylor Frankie Paul will be the next Bachelorette.
—Judy Berman, Time, 12 Nov. 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 20 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
memoir
noun
mem·oir
ˈmem-ˌwär 
-ˌwȯ(ə)r
1
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