reminiscent
Americanadjective
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awakening memories of something similar; suggestive (usually followed by of).
His style of writing is reminiscent of Melville's.
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characterized by or of the nature of reminiscence.
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given to reminiscence.
a reminiscent old sailor.
adjective
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stimulating memories (of) or comparisons (with)
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characterized by reminiscence
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(of a person) given to reminiscing
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of reminiscent
First recorded in 1755–65; from Latin reminiscent-, stem of reminiscēns “remembering,” present participle of reminiscī “to remember,” from re- re- + -miniscī (akin to mēns “mind”; mind )
Explanation
If your uncle tells you that your outfit is reminiscent of the way your mother dressed when she was young, it means your clothes remind him of your mother. Hopefully that doesn't mean your mother is still dressing you. Reminiscent traces back to the Latin for "remember." If a house is reminiscent of your childhood home, it makes you remember your childhood home. Reminiscent can have a good or bad implication. If you tell someone that her paintings are reminiscent of a chimp's finger paintings, obviously that's not so good. But if you tell her that they're reminiscent of Dali, well that might be better.
Vocabulary lists containing reminiscent
Beloved
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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.
Growth stocks’ surprising strength in the face of rising rates is reminiscent of the last few months of the dot-com bubble.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 17, 2026
"You've got three corners where you're turning and braking, and if you lock up, the wall is right in front of you, which is very reminiscent of the corner in Baku - Turn 15."
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
But their desire to build these AI-processing plants faster than ever has resulted in sprawling, polluting, noisy, thirsty complexes more reminiscent of the industrial revolution than the era of artificial intelligence.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
Participants perform duck walks, suitcase carries, bear crawls and overhead holds reminiscent of the log and boat carries in Marine boot camps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
The nondecreasing behavior of a black hole’s area was very reminiscent of the behavior of a physical quantity called entropy, which measures the degree of disorder of a system.
From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking
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.
