recollect

[ rek-uh-lekt ]

verb (used with object)

1. to recall to mind; recover knowledge of by memory; remember.

   Antonyms: forget

2. to absorb (oneself ) in spiritual meditation, especially during prayer.

verb (used without object)

1. to have a recollection; remember.

recollect

/ ˌrɛkəˈlɛkt /

verb

1. when tr, often takes a clause as object to recall from memory; remember

Derived Forms

• ˌrecolˈlective, adjective
• ˌrecolˈlectively, adverb

Other Words From

• recol·lective adjective
• recol·lective·ly adverb
• recol·lective·ness noun
• misrec·ol·lect verb
• nonrec·ol·lective adjective
• self-recol·lective adjective
• unrec·ol·lective adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of recollect¹

First recorded in 1550–60; from Medieval Latin recollēctus, past participle of recolligere “to remember, recollect” ( Latin: “to gather up again”); re-, collect ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of recollect¹

C16: from Latin recolligere to gather again, from re- + colligere to collect ¹

Synonym Study

See remember.

Example Sentences

By the end, I could probably recollect every blade of grass.

From Washington Post

Without it, we couldn’t form and recollect distinct and meaningful memories since many aspects of any two memories would otherwise overlap.

From Nautilus

Once these memories are formed, a partial prompt can easily have you recollect them.

From Nautilus

Within it, she recollected her early years, spinning the dispersed wool of her babyhood into the tangled threads of her childhood.

From Nautilus

However, in some cases, memory can become pathologically persistent, as when the memory of a traumatic experience—like an assault or a soldier’s time in combat—is recollected incessantly.

From Popular-Science

I stooped down and asked him how he felt himself, but he made no answer, and evidently did not recollect me.

From Project Gutenberg

They buried her body in the Recollect convent, with the greatest pomp possible.

From Project Gutenberg

He does not recollect the duty the engine performed with the cylindrical boilers.

From Project Gutenberg

We recollect sharing in the despondency, and even despair, which paralysed our party.

From Project Gutenberg

Hartledon sent his thoughts back, endeavouring to recollect what could have given rise to this charge.

From Project Gutenberg