recollection
Americannoun
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the act or power of recollecting, or recalling to mind; remembrance.
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something that is recollected.
recollections of one's childhood.
noun
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the act of recalling something from memory; the ability to remember
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something remembered; a memory
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of recollection
1635–45; < French récollection or Medieval Latin recollēctiōn- (stem of recollēctiō ), equivalent to recollēct ( us ) ( see recollect) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Recollection is either the process of remembering something or a specific memory. If someone says, "To the best of my recollection, I never met Ted," they're saying they tried to remember Ted and couldn’t. Basically, your memory is your recollection. You can also say your memories are recollections. You could have a recollection of a baseball game on your birthday. If you know that collecting is to gather things, it makes sense that recollecting is like the process of gathering your memories.
Vocabulary lists containing recollection
The Cay
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The Things They Carried
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Farewell to Manzanar
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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.
“Oh, yes, the boring religious one,” a friend said with something of a sigh, asked if she had any better recollection than I about Mary Bennet, the middle child in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.”
From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026
“Even in Argentina there, my recollection is there have been about three superspreader events,” said Gregory Mertz, an infectious-disease doctor at the University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center who studies the hantavirus.
From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026
Sir Philip also said he had no recollection of being sworn at by McSweeney.
From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026
Though easy to debunk, such theories persist as Artemis II comes decades after the previous lunar missions, events today's internet-savvy generation has little recollection of.
From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026
I averred that I was honored by his recollection, no less than by his attendance upon the first performance.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
