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

Those are words that penetrate, ones that recollect certain names and call forth our senses.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 10, 2026

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

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 4, 2025

Not only does this reduce the administrative burden, but it means the government doesn't have to design a system to recollect, store and process this information all over again.

From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2025

I also seem to recollect that the master taking Prep was our friend Captain Hardcastle, but I wouldn’t swear to it.

From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl

Minho goes first, moving carefully as he recollects the steps to 2Pm's viral track My House, with its famous chorus: "I wanna take you to my house."

From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026

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

“He was kind of a grumpy snake, and everybody was going, ‘Omigod, omigod, it's a water moccasin, kill it!’” she recollects.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 18, 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

Given what’s recollected in director Michael Pack’s documentary, it seems that very little will ever be forgotten, certainly not by those who fought the battles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025

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

From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2023

“It had a bunch of janky roller coasters and spinning things,” Koekkoek recollected.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2023

Discussing his time at school, Spielberg said his "only ticket" to popularity was making small movies and recollected getting the captain of the football team to dedicate a whole Saturday to star in a film.

From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2022

Emma soon recollected, and understood him; and while she joined in the laugh, it was evident from Jane’s countenance that she too was really hearing him, though trying to seem deaf.

From "Emma" by Jane Austen

Greene nearly swooned recollecting the interaction in an interview afterward.

From Slate ● Jun. 18, 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

Her style of hyperlinking in real time matches the hybrid way she works, reifying, refining and recollecting the thoughts that make a person up.

From New York Times ● Sep. 2, 2022

Such was the nostalgia that they compiled more than 1,200 images and 400 contributors recollecting days of childhood freedom.

From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2022

Not recollecting myself, I began again that I was much obliged to him for his recommendation—

From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens