forget it

Idioms  

1. Overlook it, it's not important; you're quite mistaken. This colloquial imperative is used in a variety of ways. For example, in Thanks so much for helping—Forget it, it was nothing, it is a substitute for “don't mention it” or you're welcome; in Stop counting the change—forget it! it means “stop doing something unimportant” in You think assembling this swingset was easy—forget it! it means “it was not at all easy”; and in Forget it—you'll never understand this theorem it means that the possibility of your understanding it is hopeless. [c. 1900]

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Example Sentences

“The stranger and more disturbing an incident was, the faster you needed to forget it again.”

From Salon • May 17, 2026

"I won't forget it, how I felt - it triggered in me the most horrendous adrenaline shock," says George, a founder director of a fintech startup company from Devon.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

The boneheaded prediction is a sports hack’s loyal companion, and the reliable move is to ignore it, carry on, hope we all get mad about some other nonsense and forget it happened.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 11, 2026

Unfortunately for her, her decision to speak out about it has all but ensured that no one’s going to forget it anytime soon.

From Slate • Apr. 10, 2026

There are rich Spinneys and poor Spinneys and regular Spinneys, but there ain’t no swamp Spinneys, and my mom’s family never let my dad forget it, believe you me.

From "The Young Man and the Sea" by Rodman Philbrick

Related Words

• back down
• back off
• cancel
• deny
• disavow
• disown
• pull back
• recant
• renege
• renounce
• repeal
• repudiate
• rescind
• reverse
• revoke
• rule out
• take back
• withdraw