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

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

For example, in learning contexts, adaptive forgetting, or the ability to let go of irrelevant information, can actually improve cognitive performance overall. — Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 26 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

In this arrangement, even if one learner suffers from catastrophic forgetting, the cognitive radio can still function. — Sven Bilén, IEEE Spectrum, 23 July 2020

Verb

Because creating that avenue was a theme of loss and remembering and what forgetting or remembering means for a character. — Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 13 Aug. 2026

Really, the challenge as an actor is forgetting all the playfulness, ambition and tone around it, or even the books and the research and just playing the truth of it. — Matt Minton, Variety, 10 Aug. 2026

The cost of forgetting is almost always higher and appears more slowly than the cost of any single decision the partnership must ever make. — Abdulrahman Hammad, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026

No Way Home—at the time, the last of the franchise in Holland’s contract—but he’s since taken on various roles across movie, theatre and television; not forgetting the role of Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. — Connor Sturges, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Aug. 2026

However, in the White Sox’s 8-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians at Rate Field Friday, Venable did not have one of his finer moments, forgetting a key rule that cost his team dearly. — Ryan Canfield, FOXNews.com, 8 Aug. 2026

He's still plagued with symptoms ranging from dizziness and migraines to forgetting daily tasks and responsibilities to his wife and children. — ABC News, 6 Aug. 2026

He’s still plagued with symptoms ranging from dizziness and migraines to forgetting daily tasks and responsibilities to his wife and children. — Ben Finley, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026

Fans are no doubt excited to return to the optimistic, big-hearted world of Ted Lasso, but they would also be forgiven for forgetting some details about where the story left off. — Rachel Labonte, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Aug. 2026