reminiscential

English

Etymology

From Late Latin reminiscentia +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɛmɪnɪˈsɛnʃ(ə)l/

Adjective

reminiscential (comparative more reminiscential, superlative most reminiscential)

1. Of or relating to remembering; reminiscent.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica‎^[1], 2nd edition, London: Edw. Dod & Nath. Ekins, published 1650, Preface:

     Would truth dispense, we could be content, with Plato, that knowledge were but Remembrance; that Intellectuall acquisition were but Reminiscentiall evocation, and new impressions but the colourishing of old stamps which stood pale in the soul before.

   • 1932 August 29, “Proust”, in Time:

     In his famed cork-lined (soundproof) room he lived, an invalid-recluse, for the remaining 17 years of his life, occasionally venturing out again into society to verify a point in his reminiscential writing, often summoning his fashionable friends to question them about so-&-so’s gestures, the material of so-&-so’s gown.

   • 1963, Edward Kennard Rand, Ovid and His Influence, New York: Cooper Square, Chapter I, iv. The Remedies of Love, p. 53,^[2]

     Turn a deaf ear to her flattery and tears. Above all, do not argue with her the justice of your case; do not give her a chance to argue. Burn her letters and her pictures; avoid reminiscential scenes.

2. Having a tendency to reminisce (of a person)
   • 1890, Henry James, chapter 8, in The Tragic Muse:

     His curiosity had been more appeased than stimulated, but he felt none the less that he had “taken up” the dark-browed girl and her reminiscential mother and must face the immediate consequences of the act.

   • 1901, John Fox Jr., “Down the Kentucky on a Raft”, in Blue-Grass and Rhododendron: Out-Doors in Old Kentucky‎^[3], New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1920, page 74:

     There a ferry was crossing the river, and old Ben grew reminiscential. He had been a ferryman back in the mountains.