recollection
Americannoun
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the act or power of recollecting, or recalling to mind; remembrance.
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something that is recollected.
recollections of one's childhood.
noun
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the act of recalling something from memory; the ability to remember
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something remembered; a memory
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of recollection
1635–45; < French récollection or Medieval Latin recollēctiōn- (stem of recollēctiō ), equivalent to recollēct ( us ) ( see recollect) + -iōn- -ion
Explanation
Recollection is either the process of remembering something or a specific memory. If someone says, "To the best of my recollection, I never met Ted," they're saying they tried to remember Ted and couldn’t. Basically, your memory is your recollection. You can also say your memories are recollections. You could have a recollection of a baseball game on your birthday. If you know that collecting is to gather things, it makes sense that recollecting is like the process of gathering your memories.
Vocabulary lists containing recollection
The Cay
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The Things They Carried
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Farewell to Manzanar
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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.
It’s bathed in sunlight that only occasionally shines on an ephemeral memory, revealing that the recollection is laced with as much honest love as regret.
From Salon • May 25, 2026
“Even in Argentina there, my recollection is there have been about three superspreader events,” said Gregory Mertz, an infectious-disease doctor at the University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center who studies the hantavirus.
From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026
In a previous statement, in 2024, she expressed her "deepest sorrow" but said she had "no recollection of what took place".
From BBC • Apr. 14, 2026
Later that month, the anonymous accuser, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, acknowledged there were several inconsistencies in her recollection of the alleged assault but stood firmly behind her accusations.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 24, 2026
But he had a dim recollection of a frequent visitor to the Salon Carré.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
