RECOLLECTION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does recollection mean? 

• RECOLLECTION (noun)
  The noun RECOLLECTION has 3 senses:

1. the ability to recall past occurrences

2. the process of remembering (especially the process of recovering information by mental effort)

3. something recalled to the mind

  Familiarity information: RECOLLECTION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RECOLLECTION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The ability to recall past occurrences

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

anamnesis; recollection; remembrance

Hypernyms ("recollection" is a kind of...):

memory; retention; retentiveness; retentivity (the power of retaining and recalling past experience)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The process of remembering (especially the process of recovering information by mental effort)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

recall; recollection; reminiscence

Context example:

he has total recall of the episode

Hypernyms ("recollection" is a kind of...):

memory; remembering (the cognitive processes whereby past experience is remembered)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "recollection"):

mind (recall or remembrance)

reconstruction; reconstructive memory (recall that is hypothesized to work by storing abstract features which are then used to construct the memory during recall)

reproduction; reproductive memory (recall that is hypothesized to work by storing the original stimulus input and reproducing it during recall)

regurgitation (recall after rote memorization)

Derivation:

recollect (recall knowledge from memory; have a recollection)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Something recalled to the mind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("recollection" is a kind of...):

memory (something that is remembered)

 Context examples 

She was in need of a little interval for recollection.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

She was pretty too, if my recollections of her face and person are correct.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“Yes, but that did not last long,” said Catherine, her eyes brightening at the recollection of what had first given spirit to her existence there.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The very recollection of it, and all that I felt at the time—when I saw him coming—his noble look—and my wretchedness before.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Yes, I believe we were; but I have not the least recollection at what.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I have some recollection of once remarking to our young friend here that G. E. C. is at his best when his back is to the wall.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I must pause here, for it requires all my fortitude to recall the memory of the frightful events which I am about to relate, in proper detail, to my recollection.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He spoke one evening of the importance of the secret, and I have some recollection that he said that no doubt foreign spies would pay a great deal to have it.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It would be done so quickly and so naturally, that I daresay the young man himself has no recollection of it.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Hans!" she would cry, "wake up!" and he would come to a recollection of himself, startled and shamefaced and unrepentant.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)