recollect

remember, recollect, recall, remind, reminisce mean to bring an image or idea from the past into the mind. remember implies a keeping in memory that may be effortless or unwilled.

• • remembers that day as though it were yesterday

recollect implies a bringing back to mind what is lost or scattered.

• • as near as I can recollect

recall suggests an effort to bring back to mind and often to re-create in speech.

• • can't recall the words of the song

remind suggests a jogging of one's memory by an association or similarity.

• • that reminds me of a story

reminisce implies a casual often nostalgic recalling of experiences long past and gone.

• • old college friends like to reminisce