keepsake
Americannoun
-
keepsakes
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of keepsake
Explanation
A keepsake is an object that has sentimental value, like a locket that belonged to your grandmother. In one of the Batman movies, Bruce Wayne keeps the pearls his mother wore the day she was murdered. Those pearls are a keepsake: something that has great meaning because of its association with a person. Many parents keep pictures their kids drew as keepsakes. If you loved a job, you might have a keepsake from it. Souvenirs from fun vacations are keepsakes. A keepsake is something we keep for the sake of the people and events we want to always remember.
Vocabulary lists containing keepsake
Crenshaw
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Free Lunch
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Charlotte's Web
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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:
Susanna Woodgate, who curated the sale, said: "It was wonderful to see real fans managing to secure a keepsake of something they loved, or perhaps to share with their own children and grandchildren."
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Hurt and in desperate need of her friend, Andie goes to see Iona to ask for her ruffly pink prom dress, a keepsake she promised Andie if ever she wanted it.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2026
When the next mission to the International Space Station blasts off from Florida next week, a special keepsake will be hitching a ride: a small stuffed rabbit.
From Barron's ● Feb. 8, 2026
During the studio tour, the artist pulled out a piece of brass wire bent to spell out her name, a keepsake from when she was 12.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025
The plastic keepsake attached to it was a painting of half of a yellow sun on a black background.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
She said she wanted to leave the bags as "keepsakes" for her children and grandchildren.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
People have been lining up at Costco and Walmart to buy gold bars and digging through their jewelry boxes to turn keepsakes into cash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
Don eventually remarried and had three more kids, but he held on to a big box of Cynthia’s clothes and other keepsakes, including a lock of hair and bottle of her perfume.
From Slate ● Apr. 6, 2026
In his will, written shortly before his death in 1821, Napoleon left several imperial keepsakes -- including two of his last hats -- to his son, the King of Rome.
From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026
On May 11, they would finally be allowed to return to what was left of their homes and salvage important documents and keepsakes.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
