madeleine
1
8.2
- noun
- /ˌmædəˈlɛn/
- Literature
:
madeleine
- Hearing that old song was a powerful madeleine, bringing back memories of summer vacations with friends.
- Proust's madeleine
Examples
-
Reading Marcel Proust's reveries hazily circling around the most privileged object from his past—his grandmother's madeleine—
Academic text (2007) -
A taste of the chocolate cake from the bakery became a madeleine, reminding him of his birthday celebrations as a child.
-
Most of these names may hold no meaning for you, reader, but for me they are a madeleine-level nostalgia cocktail.
Academic text (2002) -
These moments are privileged, though they may, in themselves, seem trivial enough: the musical phrase, the madeleine, the rough paving stone.
Academic text (1995) -
I'll pick it up occasionally and pop it in my mouth, and the effect is similar to Proust and his madeleine, conjuring up the events of my time with Emily in great rushes of sensory detail.
Fiction book (1990) -
But in his diary, Marcel tells us that the celebrated madeleine scene from Remembrance of Things Past had less to do with involuntary memory than with narrative mechanics.
Blog text (6) -
The smell of fresh baked bread was a madeleine that took her back to her grandmother's kitchen.
Synonyms
A sudden memory from a smell or sound that makes you feel as if you are back in the past
A person or thing that helps you remember past events
Compounds
- Literature
A sudden memory from a smell or sound that makes you feel as if you are back in the past
How Nostalgic
Surface Forms
Etymology
A helpful way to remember the second meaning of madeleine is Marcel Proust's famous scene where tasting a little cake suddenly 'brings back a vivid memory' from the past. Because of that story, a madeleine can mean any smell or taste that then takes you straight back to an earlier time.