memory hole
noun
a notional place to which information, events, etc., are relegated in order to be forgotten.
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memory hole
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memory-hole
memory-holeverb (used with object)to consign or attempt to consign (events, information, etc.) to oblivion for one's own advantage.
memory hole
1 American
[mem-ree hohl, mem-uh-ree]
/ ˈmɛm ri ˌhoʊl, ˈmɛm ə ri /
noun
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memory holes
plural
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a notional place to which information, events, etc., are relegated in order to be forgotten.
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Computers. especially formerly, a segment of available memory kept in reserve for the operating system.
memory-hole
2
American
[mem-ree-hohl, mem-uh-ree-hohl]
/ ˈmɛm riˌhoʊl, ˈmɛm ə riˌhoʊl /
verb (used with object)
memory-holed,
memory-holing
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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:
There is good reason why George Orwell coined the phrase "memory hole" in "1984."
From Salon ● Mar. 9, 2025
All this history seems to have disappeared down the memory hole.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2022
Taking the stand in her own defence, the author claimed she had a "memory hole" from the morning of Brophy's death.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2022
But because he is not, Vizquel — conveniently — has tumbled down the memory hole and has been dropped from the ballot by dozens of writers, collecting only 11 percent of the publicly available vote.
From New York Times ● Jan. 24, 2022
Then, without uncovering it again, he dropped the photograph into the memory hole, along with some other waste papers.
From "1984" by George Orwell
But it’s also easy to find some trouble in this attempt by one of the world’s richest and most powerful artists to memory-hole an unflattering moment from her past.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
Mark: One last question before we memory-hole much of this past week to preserve our own sanity.
From Slate ● Mar. 24, 2022
We learn from the misery of these experiences, even if we memory-hole the misery afterward and feel vaguely embarrassed by it.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2020
It’s hard to think back to what it was like in a world where the mainstream media really did have the power to memory-hole stories like Bill Cosby’s lawsuit because they made advertisers uncomfortable.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2015
That “Pluribus” comes from Gilligan, the mind behind “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” is only shocking to anyone who memory-holed his years spent working on “The X-Files” and its short-running spinoff, “The Lone Gunmen.”
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2025
And though the experience seems to have been memory-holed, Robert Downey Jr. made a respectable Broadway debut in September in Ayad Akhtar’s too-clever-by-half AI drama, “McNeal.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2025
Generally, I get the sense that many of us simply memory-holed most of the important and difficult learning experiences of the past 9 years or so.
From Salon ● Nov. 14, 2023
The council attached that “Blueprint for Police Divestment” to its resolution, so it can’t be memory-holed that easily today.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 29, 2023
It’s strange to me that I have since somehow memory-holed all that anxiety, but perhaps it is not so strange.
From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2020
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.
