amnesia
Americannoun
noun
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A common variant is selective amnesia; the term is applied to public officials who, when questioned about alleged wrongdoing, profess that they cannot remember.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of amnesia
1780–90; < New Latin < Greek amnēsía, variant of amnēstía oblivion; perhaps learnedly formed from mnē-, stem of mimnḗskesthai to remember ( cf. mnemonic) + -s- + -ia -ia. See amnesty
Explanation
When you have amnesia you can't remember what happened to you in the past. Amnesia is a total or partial memory loss. Some causes of amnesia are brain injury, disease, drug or alcohol abuse, and the deterioration of the brain associated with old age or dementia. With amnesia, memory can be regained, or it can be lost forever. It can be complete, encompassing everything you ever knew, or it can be specific to a time such as the hours leading up to an accident or trauma. If you forget the meaning of a word, it's not amnesia, that's just the way the mind works sometimes.
Vocabulary lists containing amnesia
Walk Two Moons
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2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 2
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Al Capone Does My Shirts
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Just don’t mistake the current rally for a case of total investor amnesia.
From Barron's ● Apr. 16, 2026
There’s a particular kind of culinary amnesia that sets in when you start cooking for yourself.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2026
Desperate to escape the confinement of her home life, Dilara becomes drawn to these women, and “The Renovation” delves further into the themes of emigration, amnesia and incarceration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
Recency bias typically comes with a dash of amnesia.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2026
“Are you telling me you’ve had amnesia? You know, I might actually believe you. Why else would you be stupid enough to come here?”
From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
