forgetting
Losing mental traces
Forgetting is the loss or failure of memory—the inability to recall what was once known.
The word covers both the process and the act: I'm forgetting my high school Spanish describes gradual loss, while I keep forgetting to call her back describes repeated lapses.
To accuse someone of forgetting can imply negligence: You're forgetting who pays the bills around here.
Chronic cognitive impairment
- Alzheimer'sDegenerative brain disease
- anterogradeMoving in normal direction
- retrogradeMoving in reverse direction
- hippocampusMemory formation region
disorientation · confabulation · senility · blackout · fugue · amnestic · absent-minded · scatterbrained
Failing to see or consider
- omittingFailing to include
- ignoringDeliberately not noticing
- disregardingDeliberately not considering
- neglectingFailing to attend to
skipping · missing · bypassing · abandoning · dismissing · sidelining · deprioritizing · escaping
Forcible prevention or concealment
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
- blockingImpeding forward progress
- buryingCovering with earth
- denialRefusal to accept reality
expunging · obliterating · wiping · effacing · redacting · censoring · whitewashing · rewriting
Decreasing in brightness
- recedingMoving away from observer
- blurringMaking less distinct
- hazinessState of being unclear
- vaguenessAbsence of precision
dissolving · evaporating · vanishing · waning · ebbing · dissipating · misting · clouding
Intense sorrow from loss
- nostalgiaLonging for the past
- yearningIntense prolonged craving
- longingIntense, persistent desire
- piningAching with prolonged desire
absence · void · melancholy · bittersweet · wistfulness · ache · regret · mourning
Releasing resentment toward offenders
- absolutionFormal clearing of guilt
- reconciliationRestoration of friendly relations
- closureSense of emotional resolution
- healingRestoration of health
acceptance · unburdening · liberating · catharsis · peace · surrender · detachment · freeing
dementia
Chronic cognitive impairment
- Alzheimer'sDegenerative brain disease
- anterogradeMoving in normal direction
- retrogradeMoving in reverse direction
hippocampus · disorientation · confabulation · senility · blackout · fugue · amnestic · absent-minded · scatterbrained · befuddled
overlooking
Failing to see or consider
- omittingFailing to include
- ignoringDeliberately not noticing
- disregardingDeliberately not considering
neglecting · skipping · missing · bypassing · abandoning · dismissing · sidelining · deprioritizing · escaping · lapsing
suppression
Forcible prevention or concealment
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
- blockingImpeding forward progress
- buryingCovering with earth
denial · expunging · obliterating · wiping · effacing · redacting · censoring · whitewashing · rewriting · sanitizing
dimming
Decreasing in brightness
vagueness · dissolving · evaporating · vanishing · waning · ebbing · dissipating · misting · clouding · softening
grief
Intense sorrow from loss
pining · absence · void · melancholy · bittersweet · wistfulness · ache · regret · mourning · reminiscence
forgiveness
Releasing resentment toward offenders
- absolutionFormal clearing of guilt
- reconciliationRestoration of friendly relations
- closureSense of emotional resolution
healing · acceptance · unburdening · liberating · catharsis · peace · surrender · detachment · freeing · relief
- absent-mindednessabsent-minded, distraction, spacing out, zoning out, daydreaming
- Common Mistakesprocrastination, oversight, miscalculation, rushing, late start
- Memory Lossamnesia, memory loss, memory lapse, memory gaps, memory slip
- self-deceptiondenial, delusion, wishful thinking, rationalization, willful blindness
- dementiamemory loss, Alzheimer's, cognitive decline, memory impairment, disorientation
- unlearningdeprogramming, deschooling, deconditioning, undoing
forgettingremembering
Retaining past information
recalling · recollecting · retaining · memorizing · unforgetting
forgettingreliving
Mentally revisiting past events
learning · clinging to · cherishing · commemorating · studying
- forgetting aboutFailing to remember
- forgiving and forgettingExcusing wrongs, dismissing them
- forgetting linesLosing memorized dialogue
- forgetting curveMemory loss over time
- not forgettingAdditionally mentioning
- Forgetting Sarah MarshallRomantic comedy about moving on
forget, forgotten, forgetful, forgot, forgets, unforgettable, forgetfulness, forgettable, unforgotten