if memory serves

idiom

variants or if (my) memory serves me (correctly/right/rightly)
: if I remember accurately
The child's name was Rebecca Rose, if memory serves. She and her mother both died in the big influenza epidemic of 1918.Sue Grafton
It was on the third day, if my memory serves me right, that I saw the lad killed.H. G. Wells
He stated with hesitation that "If my memory serves me correctly, his name was John."

Examples of if memory serves in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web How that's possible in Miami where, if memory serves, one parties in the city where the heat is on, all night, on the beach till the break of dawn, is beyond comprehension, but Diddy complies and turns his music down. Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 2 Oct. 2023 In early 2004, Pitchfork put out a call for submissions, requiring prospective writers to list their top albums of the year and, if memory serves, a particular decade like the 1960s. Marc Hogan, Rolling Stone, 18 Jan. 2024 Also, if memory serves, Jo, Beth, and the other girls didn’t spend that much time on fluorescent Rollerblades. Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 20 July 2023 Then in the late 1970s, or early 1980s, if memory serves correct, cattle on a couple of the islands on the Aleutian chain had gone feral. Steve Meyer, Anchorage Daily News, 12 Dec. 2021 Though, if memory serves, their enchiladas turned out just fine. Beth Segal, cleveland, 23 Sep. 2021 And that population if memory serves, is far more liberal than the population at large. Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 10 Feb. 2011

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'if memory serves.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near if memory serves

Cite this Entry

“If memory serves.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/if%20memory%20serves. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

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