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🔙 To recall the past 👂 To listen closely
to harken

to harken

7 8.5
Remind people of something from the past
  • verb
  • /ˈhɑrkən/
  • Literature
translation icon : rememorar
  • His comments harken back to a time when the community was more closely knit and supportive.
  • harkens back

So, so first of all, I, I want to harken back to the session you and I did a year ago.

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Examples

  • Modern collections still hark back to MS's equestrian roots.

  • It's interesting you say it harkens back to earlier singles, though.

    Blog text (1)

  • So, so first of all, I, I want to harken back to the session you and I did a year ago.

    The Knowledge Project Podcast

  • But I think it's still worth harkening back to those changes of mind.

  • And I harken back to a case I had, which was Scott Peterson.

  • Again, harkening back to what I just said, your food is not only fuel and building blocks, it's information.

  • "Sam Adam Sr. harkens back to a time when things were very different."

    Academic text (2011)

  • I'm drawn to things in Washington, current day Washington, that harken back to Whitman's way of experiencing that city.

  • So let me just harken back to the anti vax movement that existed, you know, for decades, long before COVID came.

  • Since I'm in my mid-thirties, this album harkens back to some great music and memories from my childhood and teens.

    Blog text (26)

Synonyms

to remember
vsto harken
∞ 1.0

To think about something from the past

leans more toward being reminiscent or echoing earlier times
to recall
vsto harken
∞ 2.4

Remember something from the past

is more about being reminiscent or sounding like earlier things
to think back
vsto harken
92 1.9

Remember things that happened in the past

is more about echoing older things rather than active review
to ring a bell
vsto harken
  • Informal
57 3.5

To seem familiar and make you remember something

is stronger, implying clear resemblance or a direct past link
to bring back memories
vsto harken
21 3.5

To make someone remember the past, for example a song or photo

focuses more on general reminding or similarity than on causing emotion
to recollect
vsto harken
20 3.7

To remember something from the past

is used more for general resemblance than focused mental effort
to hark back to
vsto harken
6 7.2

To mention or remember something from an earlier time

is used especially as a fixed older phrase rather than general mention
to call back
vsto harken
4 2.3

Remember something from the past

tends to express being reminiscent rather than active personal mental search
to cast one's mind back
vsto harken
2 6.3

Think about something that happened in the past to remember it

is more about being naturally reminiscent rather than deliberate effort
to hold memories
vsto harken
1 3.5

To make you think about the past because of an object or place

is more about being reminiscent or sounding familiar rather than storage

How Reminiscent

to evoke
71 4.8
to harken
  • Literature
7 8.5
to suggest
∞ 2.1

Surface Forms

harken infinitive
harked past
harked past participle
harkening present participle
harkens third person singular

Morphology

harken = hark (opaque) = hark + en

Although historically connected to 'hark', the sense 'refer back to the past' is idiomatic and not recoverable from the component parts alone.

Etymology

Harken in the phrase harken back is used to mean 'recall' and a helpful way to remember this is to think of an 'echo' that makes you 'hear' the past, so something that harkens back 'reminds' you of an earlier time.