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What comes to mind when thinking of reminisce?
Do you remember, say, the 21st night of September? Fantastic. Earth, Wind, and Fire does, too, on their classic hit from 1978, “September.” More than remember, the band reminisces—that is, they share details and express feelings about what they remember: dancing, a bell ringing, souls singing, et al. Reminisce distinguishes itself from words like remember and recollect by implying a casual recalling of experiences long past, often with a sense of nostalgia. Reminisce and its relatives reminiscence and reminiscent all trace back to the Latin verb reminisci, meaning “remember.” Reminisci in turn shares roots with mens, the Latin word for “mind.”
Examples of reminisce in a Sentence
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.
Nathan Diller, USA Today, 21 Dec. 2025
Southerners will instantly recognize this handheld staple, and the first bite is bound to kickstart all kinds of reminiscing about the last time a melty, gooey, baked ham-and-cheese slider hit the taste buds.
—Jenna Sims, Southern Living, 20 Dec. 2025
What starts as a nice reunion — reminiscing about their early days in Hollywood, when Timothy, now a family man, had hopes of being an actor — turns sour when Jay asks Timothy to show off his stellar method-acting skills by reading the menu.
—Gerrad Hall, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Dec. 2025
Carol, who usually finds a way to find fault with everything, reminisces fondly about a time before her big break, when she was still broke, before the bubble bursts.
—Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 20 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reminisce
Cite this Entry
“Reminisce.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reminisce. Accessed 23 Dec. 2025.
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reminisce
verb
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