forgetfulness

forgetfulness is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 2 senses, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.Loss of remembrance or recollection; a ceasing to remember; oblivion. A sweet forgetfulness of human care. Pope.
  2. 2.Failure to bear in mind; careless omission; inattention; as, forgetfulness of duty. Forgetfulness is Anglo-Saxon, and oblivion is Latin. The former commonly has reference to persons, and marks a state of mind, and marks a state of mind; the latter commonly has reference to things, and indicates a condition into which they are sunk. We blame a man for his forgetfulness; we speak of some old custom as buried in oblivion. But this discrimination is not strictly adhered to.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Synonyms (Webster's 1913)

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is forgetfulness.

Sources