Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Tending or likely to forget.
- adjective Marked by neglectful or heedless failure to remember.
- adjective Causing one to be unable to remember.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Disposed or apt to forget; easily losing the power of recalling past experience or knowledge to mind.
- Heedless; careless; neglectful; inattentive.
- Causing to forget; inducing oblivion; oblivious.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Apt to forget; easily losing remembrance.
- adjective Heedless; careless; neglectful; inattentive.
- adjective Archaic or Poetic Causing to forget; inducing oblivion; oblivious.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
unable toremember things well;liable toforget .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective not mindful or attentive
- adjective failing to keep in mind
- adjective (of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word forgetful.
Examples
-
The newest incentive fad is to pay the "forgetful" to take their medicine.
-
I left out "quirky and offbeat" as well as "forgetful" and others I'd prefer not to mention.
Introducing Studio Marcy's Whimsy Studio Marcy - Marcy Lamberson 2009
-
I think it wouldn't happen so often to us "forgetful" spouses if we were allowed to get new ID's every time our husbands get promoted.
From Kid in the Candy Store to Disgraced Grown Up - SpouseBUZZ 2009
-
Even in the fanciest of fancy Assisted Living Units -- like one I saw with slick silver salt shakers, state-of-the-art elevators and a door-alarm system disguised behind paneled walls, as well as a pristine health spa with fluffy white towels, reminiscent of five star hotels -- the "forgetful" are not allowed outside the bounds of their "ward", unless they ask permission.
Karin Luisa: Assisted Living for the Demented: Locked-Up Syndrome 2009
-
However, being as 'forgetful' as I was in that current condition, I can barely remember a word of advice he said to me!
Queer Sighted QBoy 2009
-
Old people vote so there will never be a mental competency test for doing open heart surgery because you'd scare everyone that being "forgetful" will deny you an operation.
-
He's even kind of forgetful (not as bad as when he's Glitch, I'm sure) like at the end.
chsturtle Diary Entry chsturtle 2007
-
Female interviewees were, once again, resolutely vague or "forgetful" when it came to the proper names of European officials or settlers, although they had little trouble recalling their nicknames in Shangaan.
Where Women Make History: Gendered Tellings of Community and Change in Magude, Mozambique 2005
-
There's no way of knowing if they're "tax resisters" who challenge the legality of the income tax or just "forgetful," like the local politician who blathers endlessly on the need to fund his pet projects while neglecting to pay his own taxes.
-
IF skies remain clear, the air warm, and pollen and nectar abound in the flowers, the workers, through a kind of forgetful indulgence, or over-scrupulous prudence perhaps, will for a short time longer endure the importunate, disastrous presence of the males.
The Life of the Bee Maurice Maeterlinck 1905
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.