nostalgic

nostalgic — adjective

1. experiencing a warm, slightly sad happiness when remembering enjoyable events, p

1.adjectiveB2
Definition

experiencing a warm, slightly sad happiness when remembering enjoyable events, people, or places from earlier times.

Example

Darius felt nostalgic when he found his old school yearbook in the attic.

predicative use: feel + nostalgic

The old folk song made Hiro nostalgic about the long summer holidays of his childhood.

pattern: make + [person] + nostalgic + about

Common collocations
  • feel nostalgic
  • become nostalgic
  • grow nostalgic
  • make someone nostalgic
  • nostalgic about/for
  • deeply / vaguely / oddly nostalgic
  • nostalgic memory / song / photograph / smell / feeling / trip
Synonyms
  • wistful

    emphasises quiet, sad longing for something possibly unattainable, while nostalgic includes a warm, happy element

  • sentimental

    suggests excessive or mawkish tenderness about memories; can be slightly negative

  • homesick

    specific to longing for a particular place (home), not a past time

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

feel nostalgic (about/for something)

become/grow nostalgic

make someone nostalgic

a nostalgic + noun

Usage Note

This adjective works both predicatively (after a linking verb — feel nostalgic, become nostalgic) and attributively (before a noun — a nostalgic song, a nostalgic memory). In attributive position the word often describes something that creates nostalgia in the listener or viewer, not just the feeling itself.

Common Mistakes

I felt nostalgic about my old car when it broke down.
I felt nostalgic about my old car when I saw an old photo of it.
Nostalgia is a bittersweet happiness about fond memories, not just missing a broken object.
The movie was so nostalgic me.
The movie made me feel nostalgic.
Nostalgic is an adjective, not a verb; it needs a linking verb or a causative structure like make + [person] + feel nostalgic.

nostalgic — noun

Word family

  • nostalgia
    nounB2
  • nostalgically
    adverbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Nostalgic and wistful both involve gentle sadness connected to the past, but wistful stresses unfulfilled longing for something that may never return, while nostalgic always includes a warm, happy element alongside the sadness. Sentimental emphasises excessive or tender emotion about memories and can carry a slightly negative tone when overdone. Homesick is narrower — it describes longing for a particular place (home) rather than for a time period. For example: 'She felt nostalgic looking at her high school prom photos' (happy + sad about the past event); 'She felt wistful watching the train leave, knowing she might never return' (longing for something gone); 'He got homesick after a month abroad' (longing for a place).

wistfulsentimentalnostalgic ↗homesick ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • feel nostalgic about
  • a wave of nostalgic feeling
  • nostalgic for the days of

Prepositions

Etymology

GreekLatin (New Latin)English

Coined in the late 1600s from Greek 'nostos' (homecoming, return) and 'algos' (pain, grief) — literally 'pain of returning home.' The word first appeared as a medical term for severe homesickness among Swiss soldiers serving abroad. By the 1800s it had broadened from a physical sickness to a general bittersweet longing for any past time or place.