hearken back

verb

variants or harken back
hearkened back or harkened back; hearkening back or harkening back; hearkens back or harkens back

intransitive verb

: to go back to or recall to mind something in the past : hark back
usually used with to
This place caters to Americans and hearkens back to days when the town attracted famous celebrities.Barbara Zaragoza
Greenberg worked very closely with the laboratory which harkened back to his earliest days in the film business …Ron Magid

Examples of hearken back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The existence of the list hearkens back to the department's controversial history with surveilling activists. Violet Ikonomova, Detroit Free Press, 17 Sep. 2024 The latest version of the FOX Box has been used since Super Bowl LVII between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles and still hearkens back to Hill’s clever idea. Jeff Fedotin, Forbes, 4 Sep. 2024 In Ree’s blog post, which was actually a recap after her daughter Paige’s surprise engagement, Ree hearkened back to how the joyful moments in the Drummond family’s life make the hard ones that much more bearable. Antonia Debianchi, Peoplemag, 12 Aug. 2024 Many of those re-releases were more than a decade old, hearkening back to the early days of the App Store when premium titles reigned and free-to-play games-as-a-service hadn't taken the wheel. Samuel Axon, Ars Technica, 10 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for hearken back 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hearken back.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1900, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of hearken back was in 1900

Dictionary Entries Near hearken back

Cite this Entry

“Hearken back.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hearken%20back. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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