memorize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of memorize
Explanation
If you memorize something you know it by heart. When you were a little kid, you were probably asked to memorize “The Pledge of Allegiance,” meaning you could recite it from memory with no cheat sheets. To memorize something is to get it into your memory, but it usually implies you’re learning something more complex than a new acquaintance’s name or the time of your next dentist appointment. People typically memorize things like multiplication tables, the periodic chart, Shakespearian quotes, lines for the community theater play, and their nine hundred different online passwords. There are many systems that people use for memorization: flash cards, association, color coding, and even sleeping with the book under their pillow.
Vocabulary lists containing memorize
Holes
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Brown Girl Dreaming
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The Circuit
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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.
"They just memorize, and they can give you some insight, but they don't understand what they're talking about."
From Science Daily • Mar. 17, 2026
To support that goal, the researchers have released some questions publicly while keeping the majority hidden so that AI models cannot simply memorize the answers.
From Science Daily • Mar. 13, 2026
You don’t need to become a homesteader or memorize the Farmer’s Almanac.
From Salon • Dec. 20, 2025
The couple said that when they arrived at DTLA’s offices in April, a man came down to the lobby with a clipboard and gave them a piece of paper to memorize before going upstairs.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 16, 2025
I dial Mom’s new number, so relieved she made me memorize this one by heart, too.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
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.
