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nostalgic

adjectiveC2Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,325 of 15,258neutral

Nostalgic means sweetly missing the days that are gone. Feel nostalgic, a nostalgic look back, nostalgic for the eighties.

The feeling is pleasant as well as sad, which is what makes it different from grief or regret. It was originally a medical diagnosis meaning severe homesickness in soldiers, and it was treated as a serious illness for two centuries.

Saturday Evening Post Painting: Norman Rockwell Source: https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/issues/1924-08-30/ Archive thereof: https://web.archive.org/web/20210415054350/https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/issues/1924-08-30/ · Public domain

Definitions of nostalgic

  1. 1adjectivenostalgicSweetly missing the days that are gone.C2

    “Looking at old school photos always makes my mother feel nostalgic.”

nostalgic is a feeling.

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *nes-

  2. New Latin

    nostalgia

  3. English

    nostalgia

  4. English, today

    nostalgic

Built from

  • ἄλγος · Ancient Greek — pain

From nostalgia + -ic. nostalgia Borrowed from New Latin nostalgia, from grc + νόστος. From New Latin nostalgia, coined by Johannes Hofer in 1688 from Ancient Greek νόστος (“returning home”) + ἄλγος (“pain”), calquing German Heimweh. Ancient Greek is unattested. Transferred sense probably influenced by French nostalgie, especially in literature. Compare Italian nostalgia, Spanish nostalgia, Portuguese nostalgia and French nostalgie.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Feelings & Character

Practise this word

nostalgic in the wild

  • Once a dish eaten by the poor, pasta e fagioli is now eaten across social classes, and considered nostalgic and healthy.

    Pasta e fagioli

  • In many anime and manga, a Makura-Nage scene creates a nostalgic atmosphere when describing children.

    Makura-Nage

  • The Istanbul nostalgic tramways are two heritage tramlines in the city of Istanbul, Turkey.

    Istanbul nostalgic tramways

  • Simon knew little about Wright, so just used his name as a substitute and instead wrote a nostalgic song about Garfunkel.

    So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright

  • The colors of this family are usually described as soothing, calming, and nostalgic.

    Pastel (color)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the nostalgia family

nostalgicnostalgia

nostalgic — used about once every 3,333 pages · #8,325 · point at the bar for the others

  • nostalgically