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

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

While Platner and his men fought in Fallujah, a wave of public forgetting was already under way. — Jasper Craven, New Yorker, 24 July 2026

Whereas the poem ends with order restored, the film leaves history caught in an endless cycle of collapse, rebirth and forgetting. — Los Angeles Times, 21 July 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

Inside, boards blackened by smoke and sweat, the air sweet with cane and forgetting. — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 19 May 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

In an age of fast fading and faster forgetting, that message - stitched into every uneven hem - remains radical. — Maria Williams, USA Today, 4 Nov. 2025

Verb

According to the Mayo Clinic, mild cognitive impairment can have symptoms like forgetting things more often, missing appointments, trouble following conversations or losing a train of thought. — Alexiah Syrai Olsen, Sacbee.com, 11 Sep. 2026

By not forgetting the lessons of the last digital transformation. — Chris Burchett, Forbes.com, 10 Sep. 2026

But forgetting that, there is the Atmos stuff which is already mentioned, which is sounding really good. — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2026

The Clippers make this sound like a case of somebody forgetting to put a cover sheet on their TPS reports, but the document shows a systematic process that yielded four different counts of circumvention. — John Hollinger, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026

Gen, forgetting her swollen wrist, perks up at the thought of having a new person to ruin sheets with. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 1 Sep. 2026

Experts say that occasional, minor lapses—misplacing items, forgetting a word, or losing your train of thought—are a normal part of the aging process. — Danielle Zickl, HEALTH, 31 Aug. 2026

Frequently forgetting to take your blood pressure medication could mean missing out on some of its protection against a heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular issues, new research suggests. — Rob Williams, EverydayHealth.com, 27 Aug. 2026

Pizzini remembers forgetting Scooter was a puppet during her first Muppet collaboration in 2016. — Mya Copeland, Variety, 25 Aug. 2026