Evocate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To summon or bring to consciousness specific memories, feelings, or images associated with past experiences
2. To produce thoughts or feelings related to something experienced before
3. To bring back images or sensations from the past into the mind

Etymology: "Evocate" is a verb meaning to bring back memories, and it comes from Latin "ēvocāre," a compound of "ex" ("out") and "vocāre" ("to call"). The Latin verb meant to call out or summon, as when a Roman official called someone forth from a crowd or a place. Its core idea is drawing something out by calling to it, which explains why the English word has come to mean summoning a past experience back into the mind. The English word follows the same pattern as "evoke," which descends from the same Latin verb. The shorter, more familiar form "evoke" is the one most readers encounter, while "evocate" is a rarer English form built directly on the Latin stem. Both carry the sense of calling something up from within, so a smell or a song can evocate or evoke a whole stretch of the past.