unlearn
Americanverb (used with object)
-
unlearns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
unlearned,
past participle, past
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unlearnt,
past participle, past
-
unlearning
present participle
-
to forget or lose knowledge of.
-
to discard or put aside certain knowledge as being false or binding.
to unlearn preconceptions.
verb (used without object)
-
unlearns,
present (3rd person singular)
-
unlearned,
past participle, past
-
unlearnt,
past participle, past
-
unlearning
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
unlearnsimple
-
unlearnssimple
-
have unlearnedperfect
-
have unlearntperfect
-
has unlearnedperfect
-
has unlearntperfect
-
am unlearningprogressive
-
are unlearningprogressive
-
is unlearningprogressive
-
have been unlearningperfect progressive
-
has been unlearningperfect progressive
Past
-
unlearnedsimple
-
unlearntsimple
-
had unlearnedperfect
-
had unlearntperfect
-
was unlearningprogressive
-
were unlearningprogressive
-
had been unlearningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unlearn
First recorded in 1400–50, unlearn is from the late Middle English word unlernen. See un- 2, learn
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:
"I do think about it deeply, like what did I learn from Sinners? What did I learn from Annie? What did I have to unlearn?," she said.
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2026
Ross invites us to unlearn the complacent strictures of cinema he never bothered to absorb.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 23, 2024
I've heard women say that it was hard to unlearn it.
From Salon ● Aug. 6, 2024
He is still seeking the outer boundaries of his instrument, while everyone else was trying, in some sense, to unlearn that knowledge.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2024
This is so ingrained, that it is almost impossible to unlearn this Western cultural norm.
From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin
He unlearns all his useless modesty, and turns little by little into the “man” or the “graybeard” of Hartmann.
From Thoughts Out of Season (Part II) by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
One peculiar mark of the youth, and even of the whole life of Augustin, is the ease with which he unlearns and breaks off his habits—the sentimental as well as the intellectual.
From Saint Augustin by Vincent O'Sullivan
Not all that trial's lore unlearns Of all the lies that life betrays, Avails, for still desire returns— The last day's folly is to-day's.
From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume I. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century by Charles Rogers
Once the rock-portal is passed, it unlearns all its sprightly grace and trickles disconsolately through the sands, expiring, at last, in the dreary Chott el Rharsa.
From Fountains in the Sand Rambles Among the Oases of Tunisia by Norman Douglas
It is when we come to the modern plays that we find the poet falling back upon conventional and somewhat clumsy methods of exposition, which he only by degrees, though by rapid degrees, unlearns.
From Play-Making A Manual of Craftsmanship by William Archer
Mr. Vance has no ill words for the unlearned fundamentalism in which his grandmother raised him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
This is learned behavior and can be unlearned.
From Seattle Times ● May 20, 2024
“Artists should have unlearned having one platform being their main vehicle,” Flanagan said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2024
They have unlearned how to do anything but hold each other for time, fatally unaware of how much the other fighter has left in the tank.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2023
The elderly teacher was a man without learning, without the wisdom that some unlearned men acquire with their years, without even the saving grace of kindness.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
"The Fukushima accident is the result of unlearnt lessons of Chernobyl," Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov said.
From Reuters ● Apr. 18, 2011
There was little disfigurement; the eyes were closed with dignity; the mouth seemed to have unlearnt its coarseness.
From Lady Merton, Colonist by Mrs. Humphry Ward
Judaism also unlearnt polygamy, and made an unbidden improvement upon Moses.
From Phases of Faith Passages from the History of My Creed by Francis William Newman
But, like most of the lessons set before us in this life, I feared it would be a lesson unlearnt.
From Potterism A Tragi-Farcical Tract by Dame Rose Macaulay
The Bourbons of Naples were ascertained to have learnt nothing and unlearnt nothing; perfidy alone could be expected from them.
From Cavour by Countess Evelyn Martinengo-Cesaresco
When attackers retrained models on dangerous knowledge, capabilities removed by conventional unlearning sprang back to nearly full strength.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
The three-episode conclusion has provided Han the opportunity to give Belly a more fully dimensional journey of unlearning bad habits, spreading her wings and figuring out who she wants to be in the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2025
"It's left me with a lot of unlearning to do," says Courtney.
From BBC ● Nov. 29, 2024
In an emerging field of research, scientists are highlighting an important weapon in our arsenal towards mitigating the risks of AI -- 'machine unlearning'.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2023
“Yes. I see that....Well, I thank you, Genry. But my business is unlearning, not learning. And I’d rather not yet learn an art that would change the world entirely.”
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
