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 represent 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
In 2021 it was revealed that Cuomo had aides work on his pandemic memoir.
—Ryan Silverstein, New York Daily News, 16 Mar. 2025
Adapted from the memoir of the same name, Molly’s Game sees Jessica Chastain as the real-life former professional skier Molly Bloom.
—Keith Langston, People.com, 16 Mar. 2025
Several climbers who survived the storm wrote memoirs about their experience on the mountain.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 16 Mar. 2025
One comes away from Carter’s memoir with a sense that his natural art form, even more than making magazines, might be dinner.
—Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for memoir
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Ryan Silverstein, New York Daily News, 16 Mar. 2025
Adapted from the memoir of the same name, Molly’s Game sees Jessica Chastain as the real-life former professional skier Molly Bloom.
—Keith Langston, People.com, 16 Mar. 2025
Several climbers who survived the storm wrote memoirs about their experience on the mountain.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 16 Mar. 2025
One comes away from Carter’s memoir with a sense that his natural art form, even more than making magazines, might be dinner.
—Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 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 18 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
memoir
noun
mem·oir
ˈmem-ˌwär 
-ˌwȯ(ə)r
1
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