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as in to neglect
to leave undone or unattended to especially through carelessness he forgot the pot boiling on the stove

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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Synonym Chooser

How is the word forget distinct from other similar verbs?

Some common synonyms of forget are disregard, ignore, neglect, overlook, and slight. While all these words mean "to pass over without giving due attention," forget may suggest either a willful ignoring or a failure to impress something on one's mind.

forget what others say

When can disregard be used instead of forget?

While in some cases nearly identical to forget, disregard suggests voluntary inattention.

disregarded the wishes of his family

When could ignore be used to replace forget?

The words ignore and forget can be used in similar contexts, but ignore implies a failure to regard something obvious.

ignored the snide remark

When might neglect be a better fit than forget?

In some situations, the words neglect and forget are roughly equivalent. However, neglect implies giving insufficient attention to something that merits one's attention.

habitually neglected his studies

When would overlook be a good substitute for forget?

Although the words overlook and forget have much in common, overlook suggests disregarding or ignoring through haste or lack of care.

in my rush I overlooked a key example

Where would slight be a reasonable alternative to forget?

The synonyms slight and forget are sometimes interchangeable, but slight implies contemptuous or disdainful disregarding or omitting.

slighted several major authors in her survey

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of forget While some spark endless creativity, others end up forgotten in the toy bin. Emily Glover, Parents, 2 Oct. 2025 But Trump’s tariff threat continues to reverberate across the global entertainment industry, where many worry that the damage could be felt long after the president’s social-media post has been forgotten. Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2025 Estragon, too, has forgotten the previous day. Helen Shaw, New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2025 Goals with Milan have already been enough to mostly make people forget. Paul Tenorio, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for forget
Recent Examples of Synonyms for forget
Verb
  • Williams, who for many years was the person on KU’s sideline to race onto the David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium turf to retrieve the tee after kickoffs, from 1970 until 2020 didn’t miss a KU football home game.
    Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 8 Oct. 2025
  • The following clips showed Kourtney and Travis making their way through the scare setup, which included actors dressed up as the film's antagonist The Grabber in the character's terrifying mask, along with a van filled with missing posters for members of Kourtney and Travis' family.
    Kirsty Hatcher, PEOPLE, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The collapse of water security in Iran has been decades in the making and is rooted in a mania for megaprojects—dam building, deep wells, and water transfer schemes—that ignored the fundamentals of hydrology and ecological balance.
    Nik Kowsar, Time, 2 Oct. 2025
  • Pierre LeBrun’s viewpoint Arpon, no doubt the Hughes contract injects a fresh comparable into the discussion that neither the Canadiens nor the Hutson camp can ignore, though using comparables always seems to be in the eye of the beholder.
    Arpon Basu, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The sound effects team hasn't entirely neglected the franchise's acid-blooded poster boys, either.
    Richard Edwards, Space.com, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Nicole acknowledged that pay equity is neglected in the women’s sports landscape.
    Essence, Essence, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • But Kempes had failed to score at the World Cup four years earlier, and started this tournament slowly.
    Michael Cox, New York Times, 5 Oct. 2025
  • Water bottles left behind were filled with black urine – a sign of failing kidneys and dehydration.
    Romina Ruiz-Goiriena, USA Today, 4 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's most recent analysis from June estimates 16 million Americans will lose their health care coverage by 2034 due to the cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
    Beth Warren, Nashville Tennessean, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Many argue that Japan is at risk of losing its way of life, or that Japanese workers are being edged out of jobs.
    Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 3 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Repeat layers twice more, omitting ricotta on the top layer.
    Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 3 Oct. 2025
  • That statistic refers to fixtures in the Premier League and Champions League league phase, omitting the knockout ties against PSV, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
    James McNicholas, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Forget.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forget. Accessed 10 Oct. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on forget

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