memorize
Americanverb (used with object)
-
memorizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
memorized,
past participle, past
-
memorizing
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
memorizes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
memorized,
past participle, past
-
memorizing
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
memorizesimple
-
memorizessimple
-
have memorizedperfect
-
has memorizedperfect
-
am memorizingprogressive
-
are memorizingprogressive
-
is memorizingprogressive
-
have been memorizingperfect progressive
-
has been memorizingperfect progressive
Past
-
memorizedsimple
-
had memorizedperfect
-
was memorizingprogressive
-
were memorizingprogressive
-
had been memorizingperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
As we wait for the light to change, he stares at my face like he’s trying to memorize it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
The team already used hand signals to call plays, so when Wallace joined in the spring of his sophomore year, all he had to do was memorize those signals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
The students who come from the neighborhoods she serves have to make do with schools that don’t instill curiosity but simply demand that they memorize things and sit still.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
None of this requires that you memorize Pi to 1,000 digits or spend weekends in memory competitions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
I take a moment to memorize his face, every inch of it, and finally I force my eyes shut as sobs rack my body, fighting with the ventilator.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
Although many friends love Wordle and crossword puzzles, Viorst memorizes poems.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025
Sure, Sam helps her mom set up a puja and memorizes a few Hindu prayers in preparation for defeating the Pishacha.
From Salon ● Sep. 28, 2023
In “Whatever You Are, Be a Good One,” each actor memorizes several speeches, compressed from conversations recorded by students and faculty with people from 37 states.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 26, 2022
Later, as a student in Oxford, Jeanie memorizes a line from Flannery O’Connor: “Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 2, 2022
She reads the first half of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea so many times, she practically memorizes it.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
My father’s sight was so bad that he had to look at the music about 2 inches away, memorize one or two phrases and then practice what he memorized.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
But AI wasn’t allowed for quizzes or exams testing memorized subjects, said the 22-year-old, who majored in business computer information systems.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
This refers to the ability to apply learned skills beyond the exact situations encountered during training, using general rules rather than memorized examples.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 28, 2026
June, for a bat mitzvah scene you memorized a complicated Torah portion.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
Ryan has already memorized Link’s entire temple service just from listening to Rabbi Gold’s recording so many times.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
It frees a student from memorizing all formulas, such as pi to the fourth decimal, but not from knowing whether an answer is right, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
As a child, she tried to please him by memorizing his favorite songs and being smart and competent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
OK cool, but I’m not memorizing a dozen names.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2026
The researchers compared this to a student who scores well by memorizing test formats without actually understanding the material.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 30, 2026
“No tears, Emma. Lia had a hard time memorizing this stuff, too, but she got it in the end.”
From "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
