reminisce

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 13, 2025 is: reminisce em-uh-NISS verb To reminisce is to talk, think, or write about things that happened in the past. // After the official reunion dinner, the old friends gathered at a pub to reminisce about their high school days, now long past. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reminisce) Examples: “Our parents would reminisce about their past happiness and point to the oversized photographic portrait taken of them at the county fair sometime in the mid-1970s, before we were born.” — Nora Lange, Us Fools, 2024 Did you know? Do you remember, say, the 21st night of September? Fantastic. [Earth, Wind, and Fire](https://www.britannica.com/topic/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](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recollect) by implying a casual recalling of experiences long past, often with a sense of [nostalgia](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nostalgia). Reminisce and its relatives [reminiscence](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reminiscence) and [reminiscent](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reminiscent) all trace back to the Latin verb reminisci, meaning “remember.” Reminisci in turn shares roots with mens, the Latin word for “mind.”