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:
His first book, “Lessons and Carols,” was published in 2023, and his second book, a digital memento mori, is expected in 2026.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 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
At the end of her visit, she was gifted a Wakefield Trinity shirt as a memento.
From BBC ● Jan. 27, 2026
Kelson’s memento mori, in its way, adds dignity to what is otherwise a sentence to nothingness.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2026
Except I’m not getting a real award, and the last thing I want is a memento.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
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
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
Earlier this month, Yarnell held a memorial run and opened a commemorative exhibit of paintings, photographs, poetry and mementoes salvaged from the fire.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 29, 2023
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
“I wasn’t expecting an offer or anything,” Conlon said recently in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion office he has occupied for 20 years and laden with mementos soon to be boxed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
It's a trend that has filled TikTok and Pinterest as pupils look for more permanent mementos to be signed by their friends, while online marketplaces like Etsy offer thousands of personalised shirts for a fee.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 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
She’s kept all manner of adolescent mementos, such as beads she fashioned out of tightly-rolled magazine pages or colorful pieces of clay.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2025
Unable to tear herself away, she stood next to the Wall watching people leave tributes and mementos.
From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge
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.
