Meanings
forget1
present singular third person forgets · participle present forgetting · past forgot · obsolete past forgat · participle past forgotten · archaic colloquial participle past forgot
- transitiveTo lose remembrance of.
I have forgotten most of the things I learned in school.
5 more examples
VVe (of all earthlings) are Gods vtmoſt ſubiects, the laſt (in a manner) that he bought to his obedience: ſhal we then forgette that vvee are any ſubiects of hys, becauſe (as amongſt his Angels) he is not viſibly conuerſant amongſt vs?
1593, Tho[mas] Nashe, Christs Teares Over Ierusalem. […], London: […] Iames Roberts, and are to be solde by Andrewe Wise, […], →OCLC, folio 60, versoFor at least two hours the Boy loved him, and then Aunts and Uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels, and in the excitement of looking at all the new presents the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten.
1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLCTechnical terms like ferrite, perlite, graphite, and hardenite were bandied to and fro, and when Paget glibly brought out such a rare exotic as ferro-molybdenum, Benson forgot that he was a master ship-builder,[…]
1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 4, in Well Tackled!Everybody, old and young, laughs uproariously at this and immediately forgets all about it.
1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 35Valentine’s Day means different things for different people. For Homer, it means forking over a hundred dollars for a dusty box of chocolates at the Kwik-E-Mart after characteristically forgetting the holiday yet again. For Ned, it’s another opportunity to prove his love for his wife. Most germane to the episode, for Lisa, Valentine’s Day means being the only person in her entire class to give Ralph a Valentine after noticing him looking crestfallen and alone at his desk.
2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993)”, in A.V. Club, archived from the original on 29 Mar 2013 - transitiveTo unintentionally not do, neglect.
I forgot to buy flowers for my wife at our 14th wedding anniversary.
1 more example
Pray, thou, therefore, to Slid, and forget not Slid, and it may be that Slid will not forget to send thee Death when most thou needest it.
1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC - intransitiveTo cease remembering.
He forgot having already visited this city.
1 more example
Let's just forget I ever told you anything about it.
Synonyms: leave behind
- broadlyinformaltransitiveTo not realize something (regardless of whether one has ever known it).
People forget how much work goes into what we do.
Forget2
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo cease remembering.
More synonyms by meaning
verbbe unable to remember
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-West Germanic*fragetan“to give up, forget”
- Old Englishforġietan“to forget”
- Middle Englishforgeten
- Englishforget
From Middle English forgeten, forgiten, foryeten, forȝiten, from Old English forġietan (“to forget”) [influenced by Old Norse geta ("to get, to guess")], from Proto-West Germanic *fragetan (“to give up, forget”). Equivalent to for- + get. Cognate with : * Scots forget, forȝet (“to forget”), * West Frisian fergette, ferjitte, forjitte (“to forget”), * Dutch vergeten (“to forget”), * German vergessen (“to forget”).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans vergeet
- vergeetto lose remembrance of
Ancient Greek ἐπιλανθάνομαι, ἀμνηστέω
- ἐπιλανθάνομαι (epilanthánomai)to lose remembrance of
- ἀμνηστέω (amnēstéō)to lose remembrance of
Arabic نَسِيَ, نَسِيَ
- نَسِيَ (nasiya)to lose remembrance of
- نَسِيَ (nasiya)to unintentionally not do
- نَسِيَ (nasiya)to cease remembering
- نَسِيَ (nasiya)to leave behind
Basque ahaztu, ahantzi
- ahaztuto lose remembrance of
- ahantzito lose remembrance of
- ahaztuto unintentionally not do
- ahantzito unintentionally not do
- ahaztuto cease remembering
- ahantzito cease remembering
Bengali ভুলে যাওয়া
- ভুলে যাওয়া (bhule jaōẇa)to lose remembrance of
Bulgarian забра́вям, забра́вя
- забра́вям (zabrávjam)to lose remembrance of
- забра́вя (zabrávja)to lose remembrance of
- забравям (zabravjam)to cease remembering
Catalan oblidar, descuidar-se
- oblidarto lose remembrance of
- descuidar-seto unintentionally not do
- oblidar-seto unintentionally not do
- oblidar-seto cease remembering
Chinese Cantonese 唔記得 /唔记得
- 唔記得 /唔记得 (m⁴ gei³ dak¹)to lose remembrance of
Chinese Mandarin 忘記 /忘记, 忘
- 忘記 /忘记 (wàngjì)to lose remembrance of
- 忘 (wàng)to lose remembrance of
- 忘掉 (wàngdiào)to lose remembrance of
- 忽略 (hūlüè)to unintentionally not do
- 忘記 /忘记 (wàngjì)to cease remembering
Czech zapomínat, zapomenout
- zapomínatto lose remembrance of
- zapomenoutto lose remembrance of
- zapomenoutto unintentionally not do
- zapomenoutto cease remembering
- zapomínatto cease remembering
Danish glemme
- glemmeto lose remembrance of
Dutch vergeten, vergeten
- vergetento lose remembrance of
- vergetento unintentionally not do
- nalatento unintentionally not do
- vergetento cease remembering
Esperanto forgesi
- forgesito lose remembrance of
Estonian unustama, unustama
- unustamato lose remembrance of
- unustamato unintentionally not do
Finnish unohtaa, unohtaa
- unohtaato lose remembrance of
- unohtaato unintentionally not do
- unohtaato cease remembering
- unohtaato leave behind
French oublier, essoubler (Saint-Étienne dialect)
- oublierto lose remembrance of
- essoubler (Saint-Étienne dialect)to lose remembrance of
- oublierto unintentionally not do
- oublierto cease remembering
- oublierto leave behind
German verlernen, vergessen
- verlernento lose remembrance of
- vergessento lose remembrance of
- vergessento unintentionally not do
- vergessento cease remembering
- verlegento leave behind
- vergessento leave behind
Greek ξεχνώ, λησμονώ
- ξεχνώ (xechnó)to lose remembrance of
- λησμονώ (lismonó)to lose remembrance of
- ξεχνώ (xechnó)to unintentionally not do
- ξεχνώ (xechnó)to cease remembering
- ξεχνώ (xechnó)to leave behind
- λησμονώ (lismonó)to leave behind
Hawaiian poina
- poinato lose remembrance of
Hebrew שָׁכַח
- שָׁכַח (shakhákh)to lose remembrance of
Hindi भूलना, भूल जाना
- भूलना (bhūlnā)to lose remembrance of
- भूल जाना (bhūl jānā)to lose remembrance of
Hungarian felejt, elfelejt
- felejtto lose remembrance of
- elfelejtto lose remembrance of
- megfeledkezikto unintentionally not do
- elfelejtto unintentionally not do
Icelandic gleyma
- gleymato lose remembrance of
Indonesian lupa
- lupato lose remembrance of
Irish dearmad a dhéanamh de, lig ar ceal
- dearmad a dhéanamh deto lose remembrance of
- lig ar cealto unintentionally not do
Italian dimenticare, scordare
- dimenticareto lose remembrance of
- scordareto lose remembrance of
- dimenticareto unintentionally not do
Japanese 忘れる, 忘れる
- 忘れる (wasureru)to lose remembrance of
- 忘れる (wasureru)to unintentionally not do
- 忘れる (wasureru)to cease remembering
- 忘れる (wasureru)to leave behind
Korean 잊다, 잊어버리다
- 잊다 (itda)to lose remembrance of
- 잊어버리다 (ijeobeorida)to lose remembrance of
- 까먹다 (kkameokda)to lose remembrance of
Latin oblīvīscor, amitto memoriam
- oblīvīscorto lose remembrance of
- amitto memoriamto lose remembrance of
- dēdiscōto lose remembrance of
- oblīvīscorto unintentionally not do
- obliviscorto cease remembering
Latvian aizmirst, aizmirst
- aizmirstto lose remembrance of
- aizmirstto unintentionally not do
- aizmirstto cease remembering
Lithuanian pamiršti
- pamirštito lose remembrance of
Malay lupa, lupa
- lupato lose remembrance of
- lupato leave behind
Māori wareware
- warewareto lose remembrance of
Norwegian Bokmål glemme, glømme
- glemmeto lose remembrance of
- glømmeto lose remembrance of
- glemmeto cease remembering
- glømmeto cease remembering
Persian فراموش کردن, از یاد بردن
- فراموش کردن (farâmuš kardan)to lose remembrance of
- از یاد بردن (az yâd bordan)to lose remembrance of
Polish zapominać, zapomnieć
- zapominaćto lose remembrance of
- zapomniećto lose remembrance of
- zapominaćto unintentionally not do
- zapomniećto unintentionally not do
- zapominaćto cease remembering
- zapomniećto cease remembering
Portuguese esquecer, esquecer
- esquecerto lose remembrance of
- esquecerto unintentionally not do
- esquecerto cease remembering
Punjabi ਭੁੱਲਣਾ, بُھلّݨا
- ਭੁੱਲਣਾ (bhullaṇā)to lose remembrance of
- بُھلّݨا (bhullṇā)to lose remembrance of
Romanian uita, uita
- uitato lose remembrance of
- uitato unintentionally not do
- uitato cease remembering
Russian забыва́ть, забы́ть
- забыва́ть (zabyvátʹ)to lose remembrance of
- забы́ть (zabýtʹ)to lose remembrance of
- забыва́ть (zabyvátʹ)to unintentionally not do
- забы́ть (zabýtʹ)to unintentionally not do
- забыва́ть (zabyvátʹ)to cease remembering
- забы́ть (zabýtʹ)to cease remembering
- забыва́ть (zabyvátʹ)to leave behind
- забы́ть (zabýtʹ)to leave behind
Slovak zabúdať, zabudnúť
- zabúdaťto lose remembrance of
- zabudnúťto lose remembrance of
Spanish olvidar, olvidarse
- olvidarto lose remembrance of
- olvidarseto lose remembrance of
- desmemoriarseto lose remembrance of
- olvidarto unintentionally not do
- olvidarseto unintentionally not do
- olvidarto cease remembering
- olvidarseto cease remembering
- olvidodesmemoriarseto cease remembering
- dejarto leave behind
- olvidarto leave behind
- olvidarseto leave behind
Swahili -sahau
- -sahauto lose remembrance of
Swedish glömma, förgäta
- glömmato lose remembrance of
- förgätato lose remembrance of
- glömmato unintentionally not do
- glömmato cease remembering
- glömmato leave behind
Tagalog makalimutan, kalimutan
- makalimutanto lose remembrance of
- kalimutanto unintentionally not do
Tamil மற
- மற (maṟa)to lose remembrance of
Thai ลืม, ลืม
- ลืม (lʉʉm)to lose remembrance of
- ลืม (lʉʉm)to leave behind
Turkish unutmak, unutmak
- unutmakto lose remembrance of
- unutmakto unintentionally not do
- unutmakto leave behind
Ukrainian забува́ти, забу́ти
- забува́ти (zabuváty)to lose remembrance of
- забу́ти (zabúty)to lose remembrance of
Urdu بھولنا, بھول جانا
- بھولنا (bhūlnā)to lose remembrance of
- بھول جانا (bhūl jānā)to lose remembrance of
Vietnamese quên, quên
- quênto lose remembrance of
- quênto unintentionally not do
- quênto cease remembering
- quênto leave behind
Welsh anghofio, anghofio
- anghofioto lose remembrance of
- anghofioto unintentionally not do
- anghofioto cease remembering
- anghofioto leave behind
Yiddish פֿאַרגעסן
- פֿאַרגעסן (fargesn)to lose remembrance of
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with forget
Cite this entry
forget. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forget
“forget.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forget. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forget,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forget.
Source: forget on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.