nostalgia
noun
Simple meaning
A bittersweet yearning for the things of the past.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nawstaljuhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
nɔsˈtældʒə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
transferred sense
A bittersweet yearning for the things of the past.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (transferred sense) A bittersweet yearning for the things of the past.
Used this way, nostalgia is a reasonably familiar word that can pull warm or cold depending on the sentence. It suits reflective writing more than quick conversation.
- Emotional tone
- Mixed
- Formality
- Slightly formal
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Tender but tinged with sadness
- Usage feel
- Reflective and slightly elevated
Usage note
The same wording can read approvingly or critically, so the surrounding sentence has to make the intent clear.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use nostalgia
- “Listening to that song fills me with nostalgia for my childhood summers.”noun
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.