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.
"We played all the big clubs in Ibiza - Amnesia, Ku, Pacha. The 90s were really fun."
From BBC • Jan. 29, 2026
I find your exploration of both personal and cultural amnesia fascinating: Amnesia as knowledge, as inheritance, as freedom, as survival, as deliverance, as abundance...
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 12, 2022
Amnesia spreads like a sickness, striking at random and forcing the unluckiest individuals to complete in a bizarre program that equips patients with a new identity.
From New York Times • Jun. 23, 2022
The Canadian rapper, who joined Travis Scott on stage for the Nov. 5 concert in Houston, Texas, has decided to pull the song "Splash Brothers" from French Montana's upcoming album "They Got Amnesia."
From Fox News • Nov. 18, 2021
SAD cases are admitted for free care at the Amnesia Sanctuary on Nomansan Island, a state-of-the-art facility where patients live comfortably, under strict quarantine, while the cure for their disease is sought.
From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart
Definitions 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.
