memoir.

An account based on personal recollection of experiences, events or a period of life.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• personal memoir
• literary memoir

On the page

The memoir focused on a particular period rather than the author’s entire life.

The reviewer checked the memoir’s chronology against the surviving letters.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Singular memoir; plural memoirs. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: artistic orientation, figurative interpretation, life writing, narrative knowledge. Disciplines: literary writing, literary analysis, advanced general English. Commonness: moderately common.