recollect

American  

[rek-uh-lekt] / ˌrɛk əˈlɛkt /

verb (used with object)

• recollects,
  present (3rd person singular)
• recollected,
  past participle,  past
• recollecting
  present participle

1. to recall to mind; recover knowledge of by memory; remember.

   Antonyms:

   forget

2. to absorb (oneself ) in spiritual meditation, especially during prayer.

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verb (used without object)

• recollects,
  present (3rd person singular)
• recollected,
  past participle,  past
• recollecting
  present participle

1. to have a recollection; remember.

recollect British  

/ ˌrɛkəˈlɛkt /

verb

1. (when tr, often takes a clause as object) to recall from memory; remember

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Synonym Usage

See remember.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• recollectiveness
  noun
• misrecollect
  verb
• nonrecollective
  adjective
• recollective
  adjective
• self-recollective
  adjective
• unrecollective
  adjective
• recollectively
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• recollecting
  present
• recollected
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• recollect
  simple
• recollects
  simple
• have recollected
  perfect
• has recollected
  perfect
• am recollecting
  progressive
• are recollecting
  progressive
• is recollecting
  progressive
• have been recollecting
  perfect progressive
• has been recollecting
  perfect progressive

Past

• recollected
  simple
• had recollected
  perfect
• was recollecting
  progressive
• were recollecting
  progressive
• had been recollecting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will recollect
  simple
• will have recollected
  perfect
• will be recollecting
  progressive
• will have been recollecting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of recollect

First recorded in 1550–60; from Medieval Latin recollēctus, past participle of recolligere “to remember, recollect” ( Latin: “to gather up again”); see re-, collect ¹

Explanation

To recollect is to remember. You might struggle to recollect your high school French but have no trouble recollecting every ingredient in your dad's cinnamon roll recipe. If you ask your grandfather to recollect his experiences in high school, you want him to remember some great stories from his youth. The Latin root word, recolligere, means "to collect again," from the prefix re, "again," and colligere, "gather or collect." You can think of recollect as meaning "to gather again from your memory."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

recollect recollects recollected recollecting

We made a registry to allow our friends and family to help us recollect the basics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

I recollect that my mother left her jewelry box and its contents to me.

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 4, 2025

I just assume he couldn't recollect or revel in discussions about Count Basie and Duke Ellington and sitting on the bandstand and blowing trumpet with many other people, especially in Hollywood.

From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2025

"I don't recollect that they were," she says.

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2024

But it appeared that he was nobody’s friend, and nobody could recollect when he had joined their party.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Raychaudhary recollects that even after Hoyle began to entertain elements of the Big Bang theory, Narlikar remained committed to the steady-state theory.

From BBC ● May 23, 2025

“It was a visceral, magnificent moment that made me feel connected,” he recollects with the calm intensity of someone deeply in love with a tree.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2023

She recollects watching the 2015 All Star Game with her granddad.

From New York Times ● May 11, 2023

“Cokeville recollects ‘miracle’ of 1986,” Deseret News, May 15, 2006.

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2022

Michael, Terryl’s older brother, had trouble going against Danny, Patricia recollects.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

One of them recollected with wonder the way music was “visible throughout his entire body.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026

As Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell recollected in a speech last month, “the good ship Transitory was a crowded one, with most mainstream analysts and advanced-economy central bankers on board.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2024

The couple married in 1959 — Nancy, she later recollected, took three days to say yes after he proposed.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 28, 2024

And even if it is recollected, mechanical recycling struggles with mixed waste streams.

From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2023

He recollected himself, smiled bashfully, picked up his briefcase.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

“I’m an old guy, right? I’m not old, but I’m old,” Robert Plant offers up, recollecting a charmed musical life that began in 1960s England in his early teens.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025

Greene nearly swooned recollecting the interaction in an interview afterward.

From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2024

Queen Camilla empathised with Mr Oborne, telling him: "It must be very difficult recollecting it all."

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2024

Like the Sto:lo, many Coast Salish groups in the Pacific Northwest have oral traditions recollecting dogs whose coiled undercoats were spun into fibers and woven into elaborately patterned blankets.

From Science Magazine ● Dec. 13, 2023

The girl nodded, then recollecting herself she drew aside so that we could enter, came after us and stood biting her lip as if uncertain what to say.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya