Remember, recollect, recall, remind, reminisce, bethink, mind all carry as their basic meaning to put an image or idea from the past into the mind.
Remember usually implies a putting oneself in mind of something. The term carries so strong an implication of keeping in one’s memory that it often implies no conscious effort or willing.
Recollect implies a gathering of what has been scattered; it is distinguished from remember in presupposing a letting go from rather than a retaining in one’s memory and therefore implies a bringing back, sometimes with effort, to one’s own mind what has not been in it for an appreciable period of time.
When used reflexively, recollect usually implies a remembrance of something (as one’s manners or intention) one has forgotten (as from eagerness, excitement, anger, or haste).
Recall often comes close to recollect in implying volition or an effort to bring back what has been forgotten, but it differs from recollect in suggesting a summons rather than a process of thought; often, also, it connotes a telling of what is brought back.
But recall may imply, as recollect does not, an agent or an agency other than oneself, and in such use suggests the awakening or evocation of a memory.
Remind implies the evocation of something forgotten, or not at the time in one’s mind, by some compelling power or agent. Often also it strongly implies a jogging of one’s memory. Usually the agent or agency is someone or something external that causes one to remember.
Reminisce can imply the process of recollecting or of recalling something, but often it suggests a nostalgic dredging up and retelling of events and circumstances of one’s past life.
Bethink, a commonly reflexive verb little used today, can distinctively imply recollection or recalling after reflection or a reminding oneself by thinking back.
Mind (see also TEND ) in the sense of remember is sometimes chosen to convey a dialectal feeling of simplicity or quaintness.