Synonyms of forgetting

forgetting 1 of 3

adjective

as in forgetful

Related Words

• forgetful
• unaware
• oblivious
• bewildered
• clueless
• unmindful
• confused
• dazed
• muddled
• bemused
• scatterbrained
• heedless
• unfocused
• inattentive
• unconscious
• foggy
• unthinking
• hazy
• unknowing
• befuddled
• dreaming
• unwitting
• flighty
• absorbed
• daydreaming
• befogged
• unheeding
• intent
• preoccupied
• engrossed
• unwary
• unperceptive
• distracted
• vacant
• dreamy
• birdbrained
• absent
• pensive
• rapt
• absentminded
• insensible
• faraway
• abstracted

Dissimilar Words

• aware
• alert
• conscious
• engaged
• mindful
• alive
• wary
• observing
• attentive
• vigilant
• watchful
• observant
• sharp
• wide-awake
• heedful
• heads-up
• open-eyed
• clearheaded

forgetting

2 of 3

noun

as in ignoring

Related Words

• ignoring
• disregard
• neglect
• overlooking
• wrong
• misdemeanor
• misconduct
• nonobservance
• offense
• misfeasance
• sin
• infringement
• delinquency
• violation
• transgression
• contravention
• infraction
• misprision
• trespass
• invasion
• intrusion
• breach
• encroachment
• dereliction

Dissimilar Words

• observance
• respecting
• noninfringement
• upholding

forgetting

3 of 3

verb

present participle of forget

1

as in missing

to be unable to recall or think of

I forget exactly on which street that the house is

Synonyms & Similar Words

• missing
• losing
• unlearning
• disremembering
• ignoring
• blanking
• neglecting
• disregarding
• misremembering
• passing over
• slighting
• slurring (over)
• overlooking
• overpassing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• remembering
• recalling
• thinking (of)
• recollecting
• reminiscing (about)
• reminding
• harking back (to)
• minding
• flashing back (to)
• harkening back (to)
• hearkening back (to)

2

as in neglecting

to fail to give proper attention to

she promised not to forget her high school friends after she went off to college

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ignoring
• neglecting
• disregarding
• missing
• overlooking
• bypassing
• passing over
• slighting
• slurring (over)
• omitting
• rejecting
• failing
• overpassing
• disdaining
• brushing (aside or off)
• scorning
• sloughing (off)
• skimping
• shrugging off
• sluffing (off)
• pooh-poohing
• scanting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• regarding
• attending (to)
• tending (to)
• appreciating
• valuing
• remembering
• minding
• fostering
• heeding
• cultivating
• cherishing
• nurturing
• nursing
• treasuring
• watching
• listening (to)
• prizing
• following
• noticing
• noting
• marking
• observing
• remarking
• pampering

3

as in shirking

to leave undone or unattended to especially through carelessness

he forgot the pot boiling on the stove

Synonyms & Similar Words

• neglecting
• shirking
• slacking (off)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• remembering
• doing
• attending (to)
• performing
• carrying out
• executing
• achieving
• accomplishing
• maintaining
• keeping up

4

as in failing

to miss the opportunity or obligation

I forgot to call on his birthday

Synonyms & Similar Words

• failing
• neglecting
• omitting
• ignoring
• disregarding
• missing out on
• sliding
• skipping
• passing over
• pretermitting
• overlooking
• defaulting
• slipping
• slighting
• overpassing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• remembering
• keeping
• doing
• observing
• performing
• practicing
• carrying out
• executing
• heeding
• minding
• meeting
• fulfilling
• satisfying
• discharging
• complying (with)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of forgetting

Noun

How else to understand the Winston experience except as a forgetting, a perpetual letting go? — Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2026

Which things are normal forgetting, associated with aging, and which things are signs of trouble? — Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2026

That deliberate forgetting, combined with famine, stripped the baiji of protection. — Literary Hub, 22 Sep. 2026

The Kennedy Center should be a living national institution, for a nation that cannot renew its inheritance will soon have nothing to inherit but its own forgetting. — Frank Porcu, New York Daily News, 20 Sep. 2026

Automatically Delete Unneeded Safety Data Build safety systems with deliberate forgetting. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 4 Sep. 2026

But the situation in the country remains dire, and the collective forgetting of the United States’ longest war carries costs of its own. — Laurel Miller, Foreign Affairs, 27 Aug. 2026

Rather than presenting memory as a complete record of the past, Fragments of Remembering explores the space between remembering and forgetting. — Photovogue, Vogue, 2 July 2026

His quest to reclaim the power of writing becomes an inner journey between memory and forgetting, between a lost language and a new one, where human, emotion and meaning must be recreated anew. — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 27 Jan. 2026

Verb

Barely a week into the Lakers’ season, ignoring the records, forgetting the statistics, only one thing is abundantly clear. — Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 2026

At this point, the biggest threat to the ’72 Dolphins’ champagne celebration is somebody forgetting to bring the corkscrew. — Mike Bianchi, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2026

Real Housewives alum Camille Grammer (now known by her married name, Camille Meyer) called out ex-husband Kelsey Grammer for allegedly forgetting their daughter’s 25th birthday. — Joey Nolfi, Entertainment Weekly, 27 Oct. 2026

Using high heat settings and forgetting to use dryer sheets or wool dryer balls can also contribute to sheet shrinkage and stiffness. — Abby Monteil, The Spruce, 26 Oct. 2026

That terrible scenario that doesn't easily fade definitely caused everyone to believe Quinn was at it again on Monday night – messing up again, forgetting that the last play was fourth down instead of third down. — Armando Salguero Outkick, FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2026

Selling the future without forgetting the past That loyalty matters especially now. — Chris Hardesty, AJC.com, 16 Oct. 2026

There are, after all, different ways of forgetting and moving on. — Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2026

After a time, the normal chitchat and easiness of the room returned like a wound closing, the girls forgetting her intrusion. — Literary Hub, 9 Oct. 2026