nostalgia
/nɒˈstaldʒə/ · nos·tal·gia
noun
- A longing for home or familiar surroundings; homesickness. After being away from home for several years, she felt a strong sense of nostalgia for her childhood home.
- A bittersweet yearning for the things of the past. The old movie brought back a wave of nostalgia for the 1980s.
- Reminiscence of the speaker's childhood or younger years. Listening to her grandmother's stories filled her with nostalgia for a simpler time.
noun
- A sentimental affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The smell of freshly baked cookies brought back a wave of nostalgia for her childhood holidays.
Did you know? The term nostalgia was first used by a 17th-century Swiss physician, Johannes Hoffer, to describe a condition where soldiers returning from war felt a strong desire to return home.