Recollection is the act of remembering something from the past, or the memory itself. When you try to recall what you did last summer, you're searching through your recollections. When your grandmother shares a recollection from her childhood, she's pulling up a memory and describing it.

The word suggests an active effort to remember, like reaching back into your mind to retrieve something. You might have a clear recollection of your first day of school, remembering the classroom, your teacher's name, and how nervous you felt. Or you might have only a vague recollection of a birthday party from years ago, with just fuzzy images of cake and presents.

Recollections can be surprisingly detailed or frustratingly incomplete. A witness to an event might be asked about their recollection of what happened, meaning what they actually remember seeing or hearing. Sometimes people's recollections differ: two friends might have completely different memories of the same camping trip, each recalling different details or even disagreeing about what occurred.

The word feels slightly more formal than just saying “memory,” and it often appears in serious contexts like courtrooms or historical accounts. To the best of my recollection is a phrase meaning “as well as I can remember.”