Amnesiac
Memory loss sufferer
An amnesiac is a person suffering from amnesia—partial or total loss of memory.
The word works as both noun and adjective: an amnesiac patient, He wandered the streets, amnesiac and confused.
Amnesiac sometimes appears figuratively for willful forgetting: The company remained amnesiac about its role in the scandal.
Unmarked starting point
- unknownNot yet discovered
- namelessWithout any designation
- lostUnable to navigate
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
confused · searching · John Doe · Jane Doe · mystery · disoriented · rootless · untethered
Purposely remaining uninformed
- denialRefusal to accept reality
- collectiveJointly organized group
- historicalOf documented times
- culturalRelating to shared traditions
selective · convenient · erasure · forgetting · oblivion · whitewashing · revisionism · blind spot
Reminder of the past
- thrillerSuspense-driven narrative genre
- mysterySomething unexplained or unknown
- protagonistStory's central figure
- unreliable narratorStoryteller whose credibility wavers
plot device · flashback · revelation · twist · noir · suspense · whodunit · discovery
Failure to recall
- retrogradeMoving in reverse direction
- anterogradeMoving in normal direction
- traumaLasting psychological wound
- brain injuryDamage to cranial organ
dissociative · fugue state · neurological · hippocampus · blackout · concussion · dementia · aphasia
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- traumaLasting psychological wound
- dissociationMental separation from surroundings
- forgottenNo longer recalled
- suppressedForcibly held down
unconscious · identity · fragmented · therapy · psychogenic · defense mechanism · blocking · denial
blank slate
Unmarked starting point
wandering · confused · searching · John Doe · Jane Doe · mystery · disoriented · rootless · untethered · past
willful ignorance
Purposely remaining uninformed
- denialRefusal to accept reality
- collectiveJointly organized group
- historicalOf documented times
cultural · selective · convenient · erasure · forgetting · oblivion · whitewashing · revisionism · blind spot · suppression
Memento
Reminder of the past
- thrillerSuspense-driven narrative genre
- mysterySomething unexplained or unknown
- protagonistStory's central figure
unreliable narrator · plot device · flashback · revelation · twist · noir · suspense · whodunit · discovery · clues
memory loss
Failure to recall
- retrogradeMoving in reverse direction
- anterogradeMoving in normal direction
- traumaLasting psychological wound
brain injury · dissociative · fugue state · neurological · hippocampus · blackout · concussion · dementia · aphasia · disorientation
repression
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- traumaLasting psychological wound
- dissociationMental separation from surroundings
- forgottenNo longer recalled
suppressed · unconscious · identity · fragmented · therapy · psychogenic · defense mechanism · blocking · denial · recovered memory
- RadioheadKarma Police, OK Computer, Lucky, Knives Out, Reckoner
Amnesiaceidetic
Perfectly retaining mental images
savant · elephant · total recall · photographic memory · memorizer
Amnesiacrememberer
One who recalls
chronicler · historian · archivist · witness · PTSD sufferer
- selective amnesiaUnconsciously blocking specific memories
- anterograde amnesiaInability to create memories
- retrograde amnesiaInability to recall past events
- cultural amnesiaSociety forgetting its past
- traumatic amnesiaMemory gap from trauma
- childhood amnesiaInability to recall early life