nostalgia
- 1A bittersweet longing for the past and the things that belonged to it.
The reunion stirred a powerful nostalgia for the summers they had spent at the lake.
Retro sneakers and vinyl records sell partly on nostalgia for the 1980s.
UsageUse for to name what is missed, nostalgia for your school days; a wave of nostalgia is common.
Similarlonging, yearning, wistfulness
Note
The move from home to the past was probably helped along by French nostalgie in literature. Today the feeling is also something to sell: fashion revives the styles of recent decades, and online groups gather around shared memories of ordinary things.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- French nostalgie in literature probably influenced the shift from homesickness to longing for the past. en.wiktionary.org
- Nostalgia is used commercially. en.wikipedia.org
- Fashion revives styles from recent decades. fitnyc.edu
- Online communities share memories of ordinary things. reddit.com
- 2A longing for home or for familiar surroundings, especially when far away from them.
I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not.
1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, The Moon and SixpenceSeeing food at camp similar to his mother's cooking sent a wave of nostalgia through him.
Similarhomesickness, longing, yearning
Note
This is the meaning the word was made for. Johannes Hofer coined it in 1688 from Greek nostos, "returning home", and algos, "pain", as a learned rendering of German Heimweh, so at root it is the ache of wanting to go home. The sense is now uncommon, and a reader who meets it in older writing should hear a longing for a place rather than for the past.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Nostalgia was originally coined to describe homesickness. en.wikipedia.org
- Johannes Hofer coined the term in 1688. fr.wikipedia.org
- The word combines Greek nostos, meaning returning home, and algos, meaning pain, as a calque of German Heimweh. en.wiktionary.org
- The original sense concerns longing for home or familiar surroundings. en.wiktionary.org
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
In 1688 Johannes Hofer coined New Latin nostalgia as a calque of German Heimweh, joining Ancient Greek nóstos ("returning home") and álgos ("pain"). No Ancient Greek word nostalgía is actually on record. French nostalgie, especially in literature, probably influenced the later, broader sense.