retrograde amnesia

American  

noun

1. a memory disorder characterized by an inability to remember events or experiences that occurred before a significant point in time.

---

retrograde amnesia British  

noun

1. amnesia caused by a trauma such as concussion, in which the memory loss relates to material learnt before the trauma Compare anterograde amnesia

---

Etymology

Origin of retrograde amnesia

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

He woke up in a cloud — he felt as if he had been “dropped cold, empty, neutral, cleansed,” as he later put it — with retrograde amnesia.

From Washington Post

“There are many alternative explanations for these correlations—say, retrograde amnesia, in which the forgetting is due to a brain injury.”

From Scientific American

While in prison, Madison suffered several strokes in recent years, resulting in brain damage, dementia and retrograde amnesia, court papers said.

From The Guardian

The first, retrograde amnesia, was for events that occurred before my brain injury.

From The Guardian

The first was for events that occurred before my brain injury, called retrograde amnesia.

From The Verge