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
Your memoir reframed Black Sabbath less as mythology and more as four working-class guys trying to survive life in Birmingham.
—Steve Appleford, SPIN, 17 June 2026
Her account there is excessive and loose, a counterweight to her essays and memoirs, which can seem opaque and professorial.
—Emma Alpern, Vulture, 17 June 2026
The release of Vance’s memoir fueled speculation that the vice president is preparing for a presidential run.
—Max Grinstein, The Washington Examiner, 17 June 2026
Months before Jelly Roll filed for divorce from Bunnie Xo, the podcaster released a memoir detailing their relationship.
—Marina Watts, Entertainment Weekly, 16 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for memoir
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Steve Appleford, SPIN, 17 June 2026
Her account there is excessive and loose, a counterweight to her essays and memoirs, which can seem opaque and professorial.
—Emma Alpern, Vulture, 17 June 2026
The release of Vance’s memoir fueled speculation that the vice president is preparing for a presidential run.
—Max Grinstein, The Washington Examiner, 17 June 2026
Months before Jelly Roll filed for divorce from Bunnie Xo, the podcaster released a memoir detailing their relationship.
—Marina Watts, Entertainment Weekly, 16 June 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 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
memoir
noun
mem·oir
ˈmem-ˌwär 
-ˌwȯ(ə)r
1
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