Meanings
- uncountablemedicineA rare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory and is able to recall the vast majority of personal events and experiences in life.
Lesley hadn't been interested in the story, because she didn't think that HSAM (or hyperthymesia, as it was called then) was that rare, having known me for so many years.
2012 November, Marilu Henner, Lorin Henner, Total Memory Makeover: Uncover Your Past, Take Charge of Your Future, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Gallery Books, →ISBN, page 83 more examples
Others may have some degree of hyperthymesia — they may spend an abnormally large amount of time thinking about their personal past, and have an extraordinary capacity to recall specific events in detail.
2008, Mikita Brottman, The Solitary Vice: Against Reading (A PopMatters Book), Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint, →ISBN, page 160We discussed memory in the previous chapter of this book, and hyperthymesia is the ultimate example of an ability that everyone shares being carried to superhuman lengths—only, it's very human still.
2013, Deepak Chopra, Rudolph E. Tanzi, Super Brain: Unleash the Explosive Power of Your Mind, London: Rider, →ISBN, page 46Hyperthymesia is also known as superior autobiographical memory. People either have it or they do not, and there are no more than 20 documented cases of people known to have hyperthymesia. [...] Most people diagnosed with hyperthymesia can remember minute details of events from any given day in their past lives, sometimes beginning with puberty but often going back to early childhood.
2013, Annette Kujawski Taylor, “Hyperthymesia”, in Annette Kujawski Taylor, editor, Encyclopedia of Human Memory, volumes 1 (A–D), Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood, →ISBN, pages 547–548Synonyms: highly superior autobiographical memory, hyperthymestic syndrome, superior autobiographical memory
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA rare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory and is able to recall the vast majority of personal events and experiences in life.
Origin
From hyper- (prefix meaning ‘over, beyond; excessive’) + Greek θύμηση (thýmisi, “memory”) + -ia (suffix forming names of diseases).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 超憶症 /超忆症
- 超憶症 /超忆症 (chāoyìzhèng)rare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Czech hyperthymesie
- hyperthymesierare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Dutch hyperthymesia
- hyperthymesiarare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Finnish hypertymesia
- hypertymesiarare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
French hyperthymésie
- hyperthymésierare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
German hyperthymestisches Syndrom
- hyperthymestisches Syndromrare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Italian ipertimesia, sindrome ipertimesica
- ipertimesiarare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
- sindrome ipertimesicarare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Portuguese hipertimesia, síndrome da supermemória
- hipertimesiarare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
- síndrome da supermemóriarare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Russian гипертимезия
- гипертимезия (gipertimezija)rare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Spanish hipertimesia
- hipertimesiarare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Swedish hypertymesi
- hypertymesirare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Turkish hipertimezi
- hipertimezirare condition in which a person possesses a superior autobiographical memory
Cite this entry
hyperthymesia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hyperthymesia
“hyperthymesia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hyperthymesia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hyperthymesia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hyperthymesia.
Source: hyperthymesia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.