nostalgia

Language: en

🇺🇸 /nɔˈstældʒə/

📖 Definitions

  1. noun
    A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.; A bittersweet yearning for something that is no longer present or attainable, often idealized in memory.; A cultural or commercial phenomenon in which styles, music, fashion, or trends from the past are revived and celebrated.; (Archaic, medical) A form of melancholia or homesickness originally considered a medical condition, particularly among Swiss mercenaries serving abroad.; A general sense of wistfulness or regretful longing triggered by sensory experiences such as smells, sounds, or places.

🔗 Details

Word forms

uncountable

Collocations

feel nostalgianostalgia forwave of nostalgianostalgia tripsense of nostalgiatinged with nostalgia

Derivatives

nostalgicnostalgicallynostalgist

Synonyms

reminiscencelongingyearningwistfulnesssentimentalityhankering

Commonly confused

melancholy
EN: 'Melancholy' is a general, often causeless sadness; 'nostalgia' is specifically a bittersweet longing for the past.
reminiscence
EN: 'Reminiscence' is the act of recalling past events; 'nostalgia' is the emotional longing or wistfulness associated with those memories.

Spelling tips

EN: Remember it ends in '-algia' (from Greek 'algos' meaning pain), not '-algia' with an extra 'i'. The root 'nost-' means 'return home' in Greek.

💬 Examples

  1. She felt a wave of nostalgia for her childhood summers spent at her grandmother's farm.

  2. The old photographs filled him with nostalgia for a simpler time.

  3. The 1980s nostalgia in modern pop culture has led to a resurgence of synth music and neon aesthetics.

  4. In the 17th century, nostalgia was diagnosed as a neurological disease affecting soldiers far from home.

  5. The smell of freshly cut grass brought a sudden nostalgia for his boyhood.