reminisce
verb
intransitive verb
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What Comes to Mind When Thinking of reminisce?
Reminisce and its relative reminiscence come from the mind—that is to say, they come from the Latin word for "mind," which is mens. A root related to mens teamed up with the prefix re- to create the Latin verb reminisci ("to remember"), an ancestor of both words. Reminisce is one of several English verbs starting with re- that mean "to bring an image or idea from the past into the mind." Others in this group include remember, recall, remind, and recollect. Reminisce distinguishes itself from the others by implying a casual recalling of experiences long past, often with a sense of nostalgia.
Synonyms
- flash back (to)
- hark back (to)
- harken back (to)
- hearken back (to)
- mind [chiefly dialect]
- recall
- recollect
- remember
- reproduce
- think (of)
Example Sentences
David Wild, Rolling Stone, 13 May 1993 When relatives reminisce about my great-grandfather, they almost always precede it with some reference to his affection for me. Donna Tartt, Harper's, July 1992 We had apple fritters, roast chicken, an enormous lunch, with Mrs. Truman talkative, easy, and the President reminiscing and telling jokes. Lady Bird Johnson 2 Sept. 1965,, A White House Diary, 1970 He reminisced with old buddies at his high school reunion. She reminisced about her time in Europe. Liana Satenstein, Vogue, 3 Aug. 2022 Coyne Schofield was not just out to reminisce at an area park. Bill Jones, Chicago Tribune, 27 July 2022 But there were serious moments, especially when a fan’s question prompted Shatner to reminisce about his flight to the edge of space on a capsule launched by rocket company Blue Origin last October. Diane Bellcolumnist, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 July 2022 The film begins in 2069, with Prince Alfredo on his deathbed, who begins to reminisce about his childhood spent in the King’s Pine Grove in Leiria, near Lisbon, which was devastated in the 2017 forest fires. Martin Dale, Variety, 30 May 2022 This movie will inspire you to reminisce about your adolescence with the person who helped raise you. Kara Thompson, Town & Country, 25 Apr. 2022 In the video, directed by Deathofgian, the artists pack a skateboarding ramp into a house and reminisce about an old romance. Julyssa Lopez, Rolling Stone, 25 Aug. 2022 The path descends into the campus by way of Coons Road; take time to enjoy the 120-acre Mediterranean-style grounds and reminisce about the undergraduate days of Barry O. Matt Pawlik, Los Angeles Times, 4 Aug. 2022 Get out the old family photos and gather the kids around to reminisce. Lizz Schumer, Good Housekeeping, 10 Aug. 2022 See More Word History
back-formation from reminiscence
1829, in the meaning defined above
Kids Definition
reminisce
verb
reminisce
verb
Synonyms & Similar Words
- remember
- recollect
- recall
- learn
- memorize
- cross
- occur (to)
- emerge
- arrive
- dawn (on)
- appear
- con
- come (to)
- strike
- materialize
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- forget
- ignore
- unlearn
- overlook
- neglect
- disregard
Synonyms & Similar Words
- ruminate
- ponder
- contemplate
- explore
- analyze
- cogitate
- entertain
- meditate
- debate
- study
- weigh
- chew over
- review
- consider
- revolve
- deliberate
- reason
- eye
- perpend
- question
- conclude
- muse (upon)
- mull (over)
- reflect (on or upon)
- turn
- kick around
- opine
- believe
- think (about or over)
- pore (over)
- wrestle (with)
- digest
- conceive
- speculate (about)
- assimilate
- absorb
- second-guess
- fixate (on or upon)
- dwell (on or upon)
- obsess (about or over)
- fret (about or over)
- brood (about or over)
- drink (in)
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- ignore
- overlook
- dismiss
- slight
- disregard
- reject
- pooh-pooh
- pooh
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of reminisce are recall, recollect, remember, and remind. While all these words mean "to bring an image or idea from the past into the mind," reminisce implies a casual often nostalgic recalling of experiences long past and gone.
The words recall and reminisce are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, recall suggests an effort to bring back to mind and often to re-create in speech.
The synonyms recollect and reminisce are sometimes interchangeable, but recollect implies a bringing back to mind what is lost or scattered.
While in some cases nearly identical to reminisce, remember implies a keeping in memory that may be effortless or unwilled.
In some situations, the words remind and reminisce are roughly equivalent. However, remind suggests a jogging of one's memory by an association or similarity.