remembrance

American  

[ri-mem-bruhns] / rɪˈmɛm brəns /

noun

• remembrances
  plural

1. a retained mental impression; memory.

   Synonyms:

   reminiscence, recollection

2. the act or fact of remembering.

3. the power or faculty of remembering.

   Synonyms:

   memory

4. the length of time over which recollection or memory extends.

5. the state of being remembered; commemoration.

   to hold someone's name in remembrance.

6. something that serves to bring to mind or keep in mind some place, person, event, etc.; memento.

   Synonyms:

   memorial, token, souvenir, trophy, keepsake

7. a gift given as a token of love or friendship.

   I sent her a small remembrance on Mother's Day.

8. remembrances, greetings; respects.

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remembrance British  

/ rɪˈmɛmbrəns /

noun

1. the act of remembering or state of being remembered

2. something that is remembered; reminiscence

3. a memento or keepsake

4. the extent in time of one's power of recollection

5. 1. the act of honouring some past event, person, etc

   2. ( as modifier )

      a remembrance service

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonremembrance
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• remembrances
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of remembrance

1300–50; Middle English < Old French; see remember, -ance

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Explanation

Remembrance is when someone remembers things — your grandfather might have uncanny remembrance of his childhood, for example. The noun remembrance is really just another way to say "memory." It's the process of remembering things that happened in the past. In Shakespeare's play "Hamlet," the character of Ophelia famously says, "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance." The smell of the herb has actually been shown to improve memory, and has historically been a symbol of remembrance. Early uses of remembrance had the meaning "keepsake or souvenir."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

remembrance remembrances

He attended remembrance events in the UK, including the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey and the Cenotaph Parade.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Rice previously told the BBC that revisiting Normandy for a remembrance service in June this year meant "everything" to him.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Year: 2018 Compiled by: Slate Staff Of note: Assigned in remembrance of SpongeBob creator Stephen Hillenburg, who’d died that year at the age of 57.

From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2026

The sisters’ opposition to the demolition isn’t merely sentimental or mnemonic—a matter of remembrance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

The little graveyards, with handmade crosses and sometimes a stone marker pleading for remembrance in careful block letters, never stood a chance.

From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison

Head was nothing like that fiction, demonstrated in the many remembrances that are still circulating in the wake of his death, which follows that of his wife, Sarah Fisher, by a matter of months.

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

The cliché of Ozu’s films being austere or even severe is debunked by his work involving children, and by remembrances of the now-aged children he directed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

He launches a passionate defence of preserving remembrances of the past, even if that past is "problematic" as a way of "ensuring public memory of its injustice".

From BBC ● Dec. 29, 2025

Humber has since discovered a mention in an old newspaper of another baseball game played in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1819, also on militia muster day, which he says lends credence to Ford’s remembrances about Beachville.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

She knew from listening to her grandmother that old age was made up of such remembrances of youth.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

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Related Words

• commemoration
• memento
• memorial
• reminder

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