memorize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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
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were memorizingprogressive
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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.
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
They were going to do everything possible to help her memorize it and record it.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 4, 2026
But even though adults of all ages can do well in acquiring a new language, fear – or the memory of struggling to memorize grammar at school – can hold us back.
From Science Daily • May 22, 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
When it starts there will be plays to memorize and I’ll be in the gym just about every night.
From "Boy21" by Matthew Quick
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.
