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

Mountbatten-Windsor said at the time: "Nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored but I don't recollect that photograph ever being taken."

From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2026

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

From MarketWatch ● Dec. 4, 2025

He additionally shared that he could recollect "one conversation" in which Wade said he was romantically involved with Willis.

From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2024

"I don’t recollect Alex ever talking about any girlfriends," says Westerberg.

From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

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

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

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2023

Sergeant Maples recollected for the court his astonishment in early 1943 when the 442nd—composed of Nisei boys—began training at Camp Shelby.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

Greene nearly swooned recollecting the interaction in an interview afterward.

From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2024

“We were scared out of our wits,” Dr. Breman, recollecting his pioneer mission, told a National Institutes of Health newsletter in 2014, as a new and even deadlier Ebola outbreak raged that year.

From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 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

For the documentary, Shatner said he challenged himself to go beyond recollecting career accolades and worked to find a new way of looking at his life.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2023

Miss Kenton, I thought, became visibly happier when I talked about the house and soon we were recollecting together various old memories, frequently laughing over them.

From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro