Homesickness; esp., a severe and sometimes fatal form of melancholia, due to homesickness. [1913 Webster]
A sentimental yearning to return to an earlier time remembered as happier or more pleasant, or a former place evoking happy memories; a longing to experience again a former happy time; as, a nostalgia for the brotherhood of the Woodstock music festival; a nostalgia for the comradeship of one's college friends. [PJC]

top

OXFORD DICTIONARY

nostalgia, n.
1 (often foll. by for) sentimental yearning for a period of the past.
2 regretful or wistful memory of an earlier time.
3 severe homesickness.

Derivative

nostalgic adj. nostalgically adv.

Etymology

mod.L f. Gk nostos return home

top

THESAURUS

nostalgia

Heimweh, aching, bathos, bleeding heart, cloyingness, daydream, daydreaming, desiderium, goo, hankering, hearts-and-flowers, homesickness, honing, languishing, languishment, longing, mal du pays, maladie du pays, maudlinness, mawkishness, mush, mushiness, namby-pamby, namby-pambyism, namby-pambyness, nostomania, oversentimentalism, oversentimentality, pining, romanticism, sentiment, sentimentalism, sentimentality, slop, sloppiness, slush, soap opera, sob story, sweetness and light, tearjerker, wishful thinking, wishfulness, wistful eye, wistfulness, yearnfulness, yearning, yen

top

ROGET THESAURUS

nostalgia

Regret

N regret, repining, homesickness, nostalgia, mal du pays, maladie, lamentation, penitence, bitterness, heartburning, recrimination (accusation), laudator temporis acti, regretting, regretful, homesick, regretted, much to be regretted, regrettable, lamentable, regrettably, unfortunately, most unfortunately, Int, alas!, what a pity!, hang it!, 'tis pity, 'tis too true, sigh'd and look'd and sigh'd again, I'm sorry.

For further exploring for "nostalgia" in Webster Dictionary Online