memento
Americannoun
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mementos,
plural
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mementoes
plural
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an object or item that serves to remind one of a person, past event, etc.; keepsake; souvenir.
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anything serving as a reminder or warning.
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(initial capital letter, italics) either of two prayers in the canon of the Mass, one for persons living and the other for persons dead.
noun
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something that reminds one of past events; souvenir
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RC Church either of two prayers occurring during the Mass
Spelling
Memento is sometimes spelled momento, perhaps by association with moment. The word is actually related to remember. One of its earliest meanings was “something that serves to warn.” The meaning “souvenir” is a recent development: The stone animal carvings are mementos of our trip to Victoria. Momento is considered by many to be a misspelling, but it occurs so frequently in edited writing that some regard it as a variant spelling rather than an error.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of memento
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin mementō, imperative of meminisse to remember
Explanation
A memento is a keepsake of something you want to remember. You may keep photographs as a memento of a great family reunion — except for that one photo where Aunt Bonnie is wearing the lampshade and singing "Respect." No one wants to remember that! Memento is a Latin imperative that ordered people to "Remember!" People love to keep mementos from all sorts of things, including weddings, births, concerts, trips, holidays, and even school. You should be careful not to bore people with your mementos, however. Not everyone wants to see the ribbon you wore in your hair at the homecoming game, and your 8,000 pictures of your trip to Paris (Illinois, not the one in France) might be a bit over the top.
Vocabulary lists containing memento
The Westing Game
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myPerspectives 9.1
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Musty Dusty Words for National Old Stuff Day
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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:
But auctioneer Jim Railton said the cow - part of a wider collection of sculptures - had failed to find a bidder and the comedian was set to keep it as a memento.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
“It’s a memento to a certain period of time,” said Arasheben, whose company is Jason of Beverly Hills.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
A couple, out for a stroll, asked an AFP journalist to take a photo of them, a memento of a nice date back on their island home.
From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026
His so-called “bone temple” is an actualization of his life philosophy, memento mori, which translates from Latin as “Remember you must die.”
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2026
The memento was not for him but for Mary Jane Welles, wife of Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and one of Mary Todd Lincoln’s few friends in Washington.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
And now, all of these years later, you feel ostracized from your remaining family and, more than that, you were left with a few mementoes of those formative years and no inheritance.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
She is moved by the sight of the mementoes left by other pilgrims at the foot of the cross and adds Tom and Lizzie’s things to the pile.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026
A retired CalMac ferry is due to begin its final voyage to a breakers yard later, leaving behind a legacy of vital spare parts and mementoes.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2025
It may keep mementoes of successes, souvenirs that mark important events, treasured valuable items and things that may seem mundane and trivial to some but give meaning to others.
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2025
I remember something, too, of the green grave-mounds; and I have not forgotten, either, two figures of strangers straying amongst the low hillocks and reading the mementoes graven on the few mossy head-stones.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
Biles has also filled the home with more personal touches, particularly inside her private office, where she has begun displaying mementos from her decorated gymnastics career.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
Mel has a box full of letters, cards and other mementos from her time with the man she married in 2024.
From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2026
In his office are mementos his parents collected from reporting trips, including propaganda from Saddam Hussein-era Iraq.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 5, 2026
Pooh Corner has been a gift shop and tea room close to Pooh Sticks Bridge in Hartfield since 1978 and is filled with mementos.
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2025
“They had to have been mementos tacked up there. Postcards or pictures, we think, from the spacing of the holes. Which maybe she took with her,” Ben said.
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
