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
Writing my memoir would be my coda, my truth.
—Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2026
Casani is a legend at JPL and NASA, and his story reads like a combination of a spaceflight adventure, personal memoir, and a pirate's tale.
—Space.com Staff, Space.com, 14 Mar. 2026
No longer does the New York headquarters cut a check from a Big Five publisher to place the season’s hot new memoir on front tables nationwide.
—Henry Grabar, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2026
While the interviewer posited that Alex was hurt by Hagar writing about Eddie's personal struggles in his own memoir, the Red Rocker disagreed.
—Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for memoir
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Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2026
Casani is a legend at JPL and NASA, and his story reads like a combination of a spaceflight adventure, personal memoir, and a pirate's tale.
—Space.com Staff, Space.com, 14 Mar. 2026
No longer does the New York headquarters cut a check from a Big Five publisher to place the season’s hot new memoir on front tables nationwide.
—Henry Grabar, The Atlantic, 14 Mar. 2026
While the interviewer posited that Alex was hurt by Hagar writing about Eddie's personal struggles in his own memoir, the Red Rocker disagreed.
—Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for memoir
Cite this Entry
“Memoir.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/memoir. Accessed 19 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
memoir
noun
mem·oir
ˈmem-ˌwär 
-ˌwȯ(ə)r
1
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