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FORGETFULNESS
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Tendency to forget
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("forgetfulness" is a kind of...):
amnesia; blackout; memory loss (partial or total loss of memory)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "forgetfulness"):
senior moment (a momentary lapse of memory (especially in older people))
Derivation:
forgetful ((of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Unawareness caused by neglectful or heedless failure to remember
Example:
his forgetfulness increased as he grew older
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("forgetfulness" is a kind of...):
unawareness; unknowingness (unconsciousness resulting from lack of knowledge or attention)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "forgetfulness"):
oblivion; obliviousness (total forgetfulness)
Derivation:
forgetful (failing to keep in mind)
forgetful (not mindful or attentive)
Context examples:
And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
His forgetfulness about the key would have mattered little upon any other occasion, but on this one day it has produced the most deplorable consequences.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She immediately felt how reasonable it was, that Mrs Croft should be thinking and speaking of Edward, and not of Frederick; and with shame at her own forgetfulness applied herself to the knowledge of their former neighbour's present state with proper interest.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
A disorder characterized by the presence of two or more identities with distinct patterns of perception and personality which recurrently take control of the person's behavior; this is accompanied by a retrospective gap in memory of important personal information that far exceeds ordinary forgetfulness.
(Dissociative Identity Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)
For with eyes made clear by many tears, and a heart softened by the tenderest sorrow, she recognized the beauty of her sister's life—uneventful, unambitious, yet full of the genuine virtues which 'smell sweet, and blossom in the dust', the self-forgetfulness that makes the humblest on earth remembered soonest in heaven, the true success which is possible to all.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
A disorder characterized by a retrospective gap in memory of important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature; the memory loss far exceeds ordinary forgetfulness and is not the result of substance use or the consequence of a medical condition.
(Dissociative Amnesia, NCI Thesaurus)
Again: because it is a general complaint, that the favourites of princes are troubled with short and weak memories; the same doctor proposed, that whoever attended a first minister, after having told his business, with the utmost brevity and in the plainest words, should, at his departure, give the said minister a tweak by the nose, or a kick in the belly, or tread on his corns, or lug him thrice by both ears, or run a pin into his breech; or pinch his arm black and blue, to prevent forgetfulness; and at every levee day, repeat the same operation, till the business were done, or absolutely refused.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
A personality disorder characterized by an indirect resistance to demands for adequate social and occupational performance; anger and opposition to authority and the expectations of others that is expressed covertly by obstructionism, procrastination, stubbornness, dawdling, forgetfulness, and intentional inefficiency.
(Passive-Aggressive Personality, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
During that period, you will experience delays, postponements, miscommunications, and forgetfulness.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
At length lassitude succeeded to the tumult I had before endured, and I threw myself on the bed in my clothes, endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
