reminiscence
Americannoun
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the act or process of recalling past experiences, events, etc.
- Synonyms:
- recollection
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a mental impression retained and revived.
- Synonyms:
- memory
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Often reminiscences. a recollection narrated or told.
reminiscences of an American soldier.
-
something that recalls or suggests something else.
- Synonyms:
- reminder
-
(in Platonic philosophy) anamnesis.
noun
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the act of recalling or narrating past experiences
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(often plural) some past experience, event, etc, that is recalled or narrated; anecdote
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an event, phenomenon, or experience that reminds one of something else
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(in the philosophy of Plato) the doctrine that perception and recognition of particulars is possible because the mind has seen the universal forms of all things in a previous disembodied existence
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psychol the ability to perform a task better when tested some time after the task has been learnt than when tested immediately after learning it
Etymology
Origin of reminiscence
First recorded in 1580–90; from Middle French, from Late Latin reminiscentia, from reminiscent-, stem of reminiscēns “remembering” ( reminiscent ) + -ia -y 3 ( def. )
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.
"At Walpole we spend our lives preserving the past for the education and enjoyment for the next generations and reminiscence for those of us who lived it," she added.
From BBC • Jan. 29, 2026
“The combined drop in the dollar, equities and Treasuries was a reminiscence of the ‘sell America’ days of last spring,” said Pesole at ING.
From Barron's • Jan. 12, 2026
The reminiscence we now know as a holiday classic began as two projects, a 1945 BBC broadcast and a 1947 magazine article.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 19, 2025
Today's funeral for former President Jimmy Carter follows nearly two weeks of reminiscence about the legacy of the Georgia Democrat who held the White House for one term in the late '70s.
From Salon • Jan. 9, 2025
The Platonists’ doctrines of recurrence and reminiscence were not the real problem, however; both were endorsed by Proclus, who still wrote, as the Greeks did, in terms of discovery.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
