memo
Americannoun
-
memos
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of memo
By shortening; see -o
Explanation
A memo is a written message. Your boss may send around a memo in your office warning employees to not spend so much time socializing by the water cooler and to get back to work. The intent of most memos is to help you remember something, or to remind another person of something. In a business or government setting, it's particularly important to keep written notes on decisions and communications between people. A written or emailed memo is one way to keep such a record. The word is short for memorandum, "thing to be recorded" in Latin, and a close linguistic relative of memory.
Vocabulary lists containing memo
Total Recall: Mem
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Part 3 Literary Terms (Unit 1)
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Part 3 Literary Terms (Unit 3)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A memo Barton wrote this year, reviewed by the Journal, shows him pushing teachers to preserve third-grade lessons on “Moses, Hebrew slavery, the Exodus, and the Promised Land.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
It is understood that, following BBC News's approach to Scottish Borders Council, it issued a memo asking community councils to ensure their websites were up to date.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Now, in a memo released Wednesday, the White House is attempting to fight back against cybercrime by encouraging private companies to go after transnational criminal organizations “by incorporating the ingenuity of the private sector.”
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
According to the memo, Randall gave birth to Jester while she was jailed on homicide charges.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
He added his initials below the sentence, tore the memo from the pad, and folded it in half.
From "The Landry News" by Andrew Clements
Advanced Data Protection is an opt-in feature that allows users to turn on a higher level of protection for data stored in iCloud, such as back-ups, Drive storage, photos and voice memos.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Down by her green toes, Melanie Griffith’s Staten Island secretary Tess McGill ferries to Manhattan to type memos for important men.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
As they read your long-ago emails and memos, you want your years of hard work, passion and loyalty to your employer to jump off the page.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
The White House typically releases physician-written memos summarizing presidential physicals, translating full medical records into condensed clinical findings for public release.
From Salon ● May 31, 2026
The only evidence for it comes from a few memos in her files, showing that she was recruited for another government job in November 1949.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
