forgetness

F4O1R1G2E1T1N1E1S1S1

noun

The act of forgetting, or any property associated with it; oblivion; forgetfulness; obliviousness.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

nounforgetness (uncountable)
  1. nonstandardrareuncountableThe act of forgetting, or any property associated with it; oblivion; forgetfulness; obliviousness.

    Oh, how many of us must charge our hearts to-day with forgetness!

    1893, The Pulpit: A Magazine of Sermons, volume 8, page 289
    5 more examples

    […] but to think of him foundling a nelliza the second, also cliptbuss (the best was still there if the torso was gone) where he did and when he did, retriever to the last — escapes my forgetness now was it dust-covered, […]

    1999, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake

    While working they manage to reach a level of what Goleman (1995) calls 'flow', which is a state of 'self-forgetness' as a result of being engrossed in the task at hand.

    2008, Shahnaz Bahman, Helen Maffini, Developing Children's Emotional Intelligence

    If you were to visit a Christian church, you would hear a lot about forgiveness: […]. Instead of forgiveness, it is useful to strive for forgetness, and simply leave behind the pain of the past.

    2000, Gavin Frost, Yvonne Frost, The Witch's Magical Handbook

    [...]: he comes to understand God's forgiveness in terms of forgetness, and that recognition brings with it a new understanding of the Christian life of faith as entailing not merely belief but praxis or the expressing of love in community.

    2012, Curtis L. Thompson, Joyce M. Cuff, God and Nature

    We have not found that such forgetness happened to any of the prophets especially the master and the last of them (peace be upon them).

    2014, Abdul-Hussayn Sharafiddeen al-Musawi, Abu Hurayra

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Middle Englishforgetenes“forgetfulness”
  2. Englishforgetness

Possibly continuing Middle English forgetenes (“forgetfulness”); or recreated in modern times from forget + -ness, modelled after forgiveness. Compare West Frisian ferjitnis (“forgetfulness”), Dutch vergetenis (“forgetfulness”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

forgetness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forgetness

MLA

“forgetness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forgetness. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forgetness,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forgetness.

Source: forgetness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.