Library / English Dictionary

FORGET

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: forgetting    , forgot    , forgotten   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be unable to remember

Example:

You are blocking the name of your first wife!

Synonyms:

blank out; block; draw a blank; forget

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forget"):

slip; slip one's mind (pass out of one's memory)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

They won't forget the story

Antonym:

remember (recall knowledge from memory; have a recollection)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Dismiss from the mind; stop remembering

Example:

I tried to bury these unpleasant memories

Synonyms:

bury; forget

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forget"):

unlearn (try to forget; put out of one's memory or knowledge)

repress; suppress (put out of one's consciousness)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Sentence example:

They won't forget the story

Antonym:

remember (keep in mind for attention or consideration)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Leave behind unintentionally

Example:

I left my keys inside the car and locked the doors

Synonyms:

forget; leave

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "forget" is one way to...):

lose (miss from one's possessions; lose sight of)

Verb group:

leave (go and leave behind, either intentionally or by neglect or forgetfulness)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s something PP

Sentence example:

They forget the money in the closet

Sense 4

Meaning:

Forget to do something

Example:

Don't forget to call the chairman of the board to the meeting!

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "forget" is one way to...):

drop; leave out; miss; neglect; omit; overleap; overlook; pretermit (leave undone or leave out)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They forget to move

Antonym:

mind (keep in mind)

Credits

 Context examples: 

At the sight of this he was overjoyed, and forgetting all about his son, went into trade again, and became a richer merchant than before.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

You may have very good reasons for forgetting your name, and I’ll like you none the worse for it as long as you toe the mark.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

To add to the strain, she could not forget the tragedy.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Now, in a study of mice, a team of Japanese and U.S. researchers show that it may also be a time when the brain actively forgets.

(The brain may actively forget during dream sleep, National Institutes of Health)

I understand now, what I should never have forgotten, that I am the pupil and you are the master.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For example, we still do not fully understand how the brain performs such functions as memorization, learning, and forgetting, and how the brain becomes alert and returns to calm.

(Neuromorphic Metallic Nanowire Network Shows Human Brain-Like Functions, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

And you have been most intimately associated with some one whose initials were J.A., and whom you afterwards were eager to entirely forget.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

No. I have remembered myself, I—no, Mr. Creakle, I have not forgotten myself, I—I have remembered myself, sir.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“But you forget, mamma,” said Elizabeth, “that we shall meet him at the assemblies, and that Mrs. Long promised to introduce him.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

In passion to rend and destroy, he never forgot that his enemy was in like passion to rend and destroy.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)