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
Her stunning debut memoir is about how trauma upends narrative structures, and the struggle to write about it anyway despite its unwieldiness.
—Literary Hub, 11 June 2026
Tracing a decade in her life, Lena Dunham's memoir is a reflection on how the author's health collided with her rise to fame as the creator and star of her hit show, Girls.
—Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 10 June 2026
Expat memoirs are great at capturing the thrill of a new place; the author and the reader both fall in love with it.
—Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 10 June 2026
His memoir, The Uncool, was published in October 2025.
—Time, 10 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for memoir
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Literary Hub, 11 June 2026
Tracing a decade in her life, Lena Dunham's memoir is a reflection on how the author's health collided with her rise to fame as the creator and star of her hit show, Girls.
—Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 10 June 2026
Expat memoirs are great at capturing the thrill of a new place; the author and the reader both fall in love with it.
—Rachel Syme, New Yorker, 10 June 2026
His memoir, The Uncool, was published in October 2025.
—Time, 10 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 14 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
memoir
noun
mem·oir
ˈmem-ˌwär 
-ˌwȯ(ə)r
1
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