forgetting

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəˈɡɛtɪŋ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɚˈɡɛtɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: for‧get‧ting
• Rhymes: -ɛtɪŋ

Verb

forgetting

1. present participle and gerund of forget

Noun

forgetting (plural forgettings)

1. The mental act by which something is forgotten.
   • 1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings:

     Jelliffe […] asks again and again […] how it was possible for an illness which had been described unmistakably innumerable times to be 'forgotten' anew by each generation. Such forgettings are as dangerous as they are mysterious, for they give us an unwarranted sense of security.

   • 1997, Richard Doyle, On Beyond Living, page 108:

     This inability to articulate a complete description can be thought of as of a "piece" with human finitude; the limits, deaths, and forgettings, the "off switches" that also comprise the human narrative.

Derived terms

• catastrophic forgetting