forget
Americanverb (used with object)
-
forgets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forgot,
past
-
forgat,
past (Archaic)
-
forgotten,
past participle
-
forgetting
present participle
-
to cease or fail to remember; be unable to recall.
to forget someone's name.
-
to omit or neglect unintentionally.
I forgot to shut the window before leaving.
-
to leave behind unintentionally; neglect to take.
to forget one's keys.
-
to omit mentioning; leave unnoticed.
-
to fail to think of; take no note of.
-
to neglect willfully; disregard or slight.
verb (used without object)
-
forgets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forgot,
past
-
forgat,
past (Archaic)
-
forgotten,
past participle
-
forgetting
present participle
idioms
verb
-
(when tr, may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to fail to recall (someone or something once known); be unable to remember
-
(tr; may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to neglect, usually as the result of an unintentional error
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(tr) to leave behind by mistake
-
(tr) to disregard intentionally
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(when tr, may take a clause as object) to fail to mention
-
-
to act in an improper manner
-
to be unselfish
-
to be deep in thought
-
-
an exclamation of annoyed or forgiving dismissal of a matter or topic
Usage
Both forgot and forgotten are used as the past participle of forget : Many have already forgot (or forgotten ) the hard times of the Depression. Only forgotten is used attributively: half-forgotten memories.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
forgetsimple
-
forgetssimple
-
have forgottenperfect
-
has forgottenperfect
-
am forgettingprogressive
-
are forgettingprogressive
-
is forgettingprogressive
-
have been forgettingperfect progressive
-
has been forgettingperfect progressive
Past
-
forgatsimple
-
forgotsimple
-
had forgottenperfect
-
was forgettingprogressive
-
were forgettingprogressive
-
had been forgettingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of forget
First recorded before 900; for- + get; replacing Middle English foryeten, Old English forg(i)etan; cognate with Old Saxon fargetan, Old High German firgezzan
Explanation
When you forget something, you can't recall or remember it. An actor who forgets his lines might need some helpful cues from the other actors on stage. You might forget on online password, or forget to return your library books. You can also deliberately forget something: "I've decided to forget about becoming rich and famous and focus on what I like to do." When you accidentally leave something behind, like your umbrella, you also forget it. The Old English root of forget is forgietan, "fail to remember or neglect inadvertently."
Vocabulary lists containing forget
"The Lotus Seed"
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Chiasmus from Top AP English Exam Novels
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"The Forgotten Treasure" and "There Is No Word for Goodbye"
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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.
See Examples For:
In excerpts published by the Daily Mail, the earl claimed King Charles III told him "we'll forget her soon enough", but Buckingham Palace said in a statement that fraternal grief could "colour memory".
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
“The Battle of Hengyang” recovers a military struggle and a family history—and part of a nation’s past its rulers ordered its people to forget.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Before this trip, most of their players did not own a passport so both teams also wanted to give them a cultural experience they will never forget.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“People sort of forget what GLP-1s are fundamentally,” says Cohen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
For an hour or two we could simply forget everything.
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
"Just in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we've set up this sign to remind them, it's Lake Ontario, now and forever," Ontario Premier Doug Ford said.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
It seems likely that with each passing year, humanity collectively forgets more of its cultural heritage than it manages to learn anew.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
That is, until Tom forgets his jacket inside the bookstore.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
Its subject is Hannah Upp, a young teacher prey to dissociative fugue states in which she forgets her own identity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
As the train chugs on, Bailey forgets the landscape entirely.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Yet he forgat not, father as he was Of these, his absent eldest, whom he mourn’d 30 Ceaseless, and thus his speech, weeping, began.
From The Odyssey of Homer by William Cowper
At thowghts ov ivverlastin pains, An’ bein bund iv endless chains, Mah bleead, like ice, ran thruff mah veins Wi’ shivrin dreead; Ah cudden’t sleep, an’ Ah forgat Te eat mah breead.
From Awd Isaac, The Steeple Chase, and other Poems With a glossary of the Yorkshire Dialect by John Castillo
Item, cross-garters of scarlet—how’s that?” quoth Ned, scratching his forehead with a pencil: “I must have forgat the price o’ them.
From Joyce Morrell's Harvest The Annals of Selwick Hall by Emily Sarah Holt
Kate forgat her leg, and Jack his mowes, and all we, stag and hunters alike, ran to the gallery window for to gaze.
From In Convent Walls The Story of the Despensers by M. (Madelaine) Irwin
The words of the good father ended, new ioy surprised the heart of Iulietta, who was so attentiue to his talke as she forgat no one poynct of hir lesson.
From The Palace of Pleasure Volume 3 by William Painter
"I forgot to look down until I heard our baby's cry. I saw her face, gasping just as she did. Her eyes, wide and unfocused, taking in the light and shadow, blinking rapidly."
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
The title track opens the set with a patiently strummed acoustic guitar and Beck’s voice leading with “Yesterday / Paper roses they forgot to bloom.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The thermostat had been set to 71 degrees Fahrenheit and a worker forgot to turn off the air-conditioning.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026
Sometimes he portrays her as a shrew, whining last year about how he’d be “in trouble” if he forgot to mention their anniversary during a speech.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026
Fred always forgot that he didn’t like bananas, so he snitched a bit from her bowl and spat it out across the rock.
From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr
But rest assured, I have not forgotten about the boost I promised.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Despite mixed emotions about his time at Chelsea due to injury, Hutchinson has not forgotten how the club looked after him.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
“The whole idea of Spyland was that people were sent here to be forgotten, to be expunged from record,” one of the newer inmates observes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
The discovery raises the possibility that other coral ecosystems along West Africa may have been overlooked, forgotten, or never documented in the first place.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026
When they reached the river, Clare realized he’d forgotten to account for the recent heavy rains.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
—Southwest pilot and pilot podcast host Max Palmer, on wealthy pilots who splurge on boats, cars and planes, forgetting about past layoffs and industry crises.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
The more interesting question is what remains after that forgetting takes place.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Congress shouldn’t honor the first Roosevelt lesson by forgetting the second.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Whereas the poem ends with order restored, the film leaves history caught in an endless cycle of collapse, rebirth and forgetting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
And getting chewed out by Mrs. Gruver for forgetting Oneg Shabbat isn’t going to help.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
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.
