memento
Americannoun
plural
mementos, mementoes-
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.
Etymology
Origin of memento
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin mementō, imperative of meminisse to remember
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.
It’s as heavy as a weight vest, with a zippered pocket in back for the mementos he just traded for and really wants to keep.
From Los Angeles Times
At the end of her visit, she was gifted a Wakefield Trinity shirt as a memento.
From BBC
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
Natalie flashed back to putting all her family’s valuables and personal mementos up high, to keep them out of the water.
From Literature
There were long-out-of-date policies, receipts, family photographs, work mementos and then, undetected at the back of one of the steel grey drawers, was a brown envelope marked 'Everton: Season Ticket Sales'.
From BBC
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.
