recency

American  

[ree-suhn-see] / ˈri sən si /

Sometimes recentness

noun

1. the fact of being recent, of having occurred a relatively short time ago; closeness of a past event to a later past time or to the present.

   The general nervousness during that period was mostly due to the recency of the great stock market crash.

2. the fact of being more recent than something else and therefore more salient or memorable (often used attributively).

   The data might be showing recency effects—that is, choices presented later were more likely to be selected by participants.

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Etymology

Origin of recency

recen(t) ( def. ) + -cy ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

recency

First, recency bias probably blocks early Americans from high rankings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 25, 2026

Is putting a nine-month-old song at No. 2 on this list an act of recency bias?

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026

The first is that the well-known phenomenon of recency bias, where our brains give too much weight to recent events, is distorting our picture of stocks and bonds.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 5, 2026

Over 120 of these studies were given priority based on sample size, recency, relevance and the range of health conditions they addressed.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 12, 2025

The senses may deliver correctly but error may arise from imagination, inexperience, false assumptions, and incorrect associations, and the recency, frequency, and vividness of past experience.

From Visual Illusions Their Causes, Characteristics and Applications by Matthew Luckiesh