recollect
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to recall to mind; recover knowledge of by memory; remember.
- Antonyms:
- forget
-
to absorb (oneself ) in spiritual meditation, especially during prayer.
verb (used without object)
verb
Synonym Usage
See remember.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
recollectivenessnoun
-
misrecollectverb
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nonrecollectiveadjective
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recollectiveadjective
-
self-recollectiveadjective
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unrecollectiveadjective
-
recollectivelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
recollectsimple
-
recollectssimple
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have recollectedperfect
-
has recollectedperfect
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am recollectingprogressive
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are recollectingprogressive
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is recollectingprogressive
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have been recollectingperfect progressive
-
has been recollectingperfect progressive
Past
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recollectedsimple
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had recollectedperfect
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was recollectingprogressive
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were recollectingprogressive
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had been recollectingperfect progressive
Future
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."
Vocabulary lists containing recollect
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, Chapters 16–19
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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:
Even decades later, Jean Dornan, the protagonist of Julia Langbein’s smart, poignant and involving novel “Dear Monica Lewinsky,” can’t recollect her own first love in tranquility.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
We made a registry to allow our friends and family to help us recollect the basics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
I recollect that my mother left her jewelry box and its contents to me.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 4, 2025
"I'm trying to recollect when I became aware of it," she says.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2024
“I remember the year 1914 all right, but don’t recollect any archduke or much about the World War,” I said to Richard.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
“It was a very odd experience,” he recollects with a laugh.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
The phone call, Gina Campbell recollects, came "out of the blue".
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2024
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
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
One of them recollected with wonder the way music was “visible throughout his entire body.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
The couple married in 1959 — Nancy, she later recollected, took three days to say yes after he proposed.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 28, 2024
And even if it is recollected, mechanical recycling struggles with mixed waste streams.
From Slate ● Nov. 24, 2023
Rather, Lerner is working a seam between what is recollected and what is imagined.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2023
Then, desperately trying to control himself, he recollected how he had worked his father’s fields.
From "The Fighting Ground" by Avi
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
Inspired by Ferreira’s nostalgic fondness for Brazil, the sandal and slide designs are rooted in 1960s and ’70s Brazilian design, recollecting classic designer Percival Lafer and his iconic brown leather couches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 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
The girl nodded, then recollecting herself she drew aside so that we could enter, came after us and stood biting her lip as if uncertain what to say.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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.
