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Glite Dictionary
to roll back the years

to roll back the years

6.9
Make someone feel young again when they remember the past
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : revivir
  • The reunion really seemed to roll back the years for the classmates, making them feel young again.

Examples

  • Watching classic movies helps me roll back the years and remember my childhood.

  • Hearing their old hit song can roll back the years for many fans.

  • That song rolls back the years!

  • Listening to that song always rolls back the years.

  • Hearing their old hit song can roll back the years for many fans.

  • The reunion really seemed to roll back the years for the classmates, making them feel young again.

  • Watching classic movies helps me roll back the years and remember my childhood.

Synonyms

to take back
vsto roll back the years
  • Informal
148 3.1

Make someone remember a time from the past

makes someone feel younger or nostalgic instead of mere recall
to recapture
vsto roll back the years
26 6.0

To bring back a past feeling or quality

recreates youthfulness or nostalgia rather than only repeating a mood
to bring back memories
vsto roll back the years
21 3.5

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

creates a feeling of being younger rather than just nostalgia
to turn back the clock
vsto roll back the years
  • Informal
11 5.2

To go back to an earlier time or wish you could

imagines feeling younger or nostalgic instead of literal time travel
to hark back to
vsto roll back the years
6 7.2

To mention or remember something from an earlier time

triggers youthfully tinged nostalgia rather than simple reference
to cast one's mind back
vsto roll back the years
2 6.3

Think about something that happened in the past to remember it

causes spontaneous warm nostalgia and youthful feeling, not just deliberate recall
to put the clock back
vsto roll back the years
  • UK
7.6

To wish you could go back to an earlier time to change things or live it again

imagines reliving youth or nostalgia rather than actually changing history
to rake up old memories
vsto roll back the years
  • Informal
6.8

Remember past events on purpose, often ones you would rather forget

creates pleasant youthful nostalgia not the often painful deliberate revival

Antonyms

to age
130 1.0

To become or make something older

How Nostalgic

to roll back the years
  • Informal
6.9

Surface Forms

roll back the years infinitive
rolled back the years past
rolled back the years past participle
rolling back the years present participle
rolls back the years third person singular

Morphology

roll + back + the + years

The phrase uses a metaphorical extension of the literal components: 'roll' (physical turning) + 'back' (reverse) + 'years' (time) yields the idea of reversing time or restoring earlier years. This logic is somewhat inferable cross-linguistically (cf. 'turn back the clock'), so a B1 learner who knows the parts could often guess the nostalgic/younger meaning, but the metaphorical shift means it is not fully transparent.

Etymology

The phrase roll back the years creates an image of turning the hands of a clock or rolling a calendar back to an earlier time. That's why it means to make someone 'feel younger' or to help them 'remember the past'.