amnesia

American  

[am-nee-zhuh] / æmˈni ʒə /

noun

1. loss of a large block of interrelated memories; complete or partial loss of memory caused by brain injury, shock, etc.

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amnesia British  

/ æmˈniːzɪˌæk, æmˈniːsɪk, æmˈniːzjə, -ʒjə, -zɪə, -zɪk /

noun

1. a defect in memory, esp one resulting from pathological cause, such as brain damage or hysteria

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amnesia Scientific  

/ ăm-nē′zhə /

1. Partial or total loss of memory, usually caused by brain injury or shock.

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amnesia Cultural  

1. A loss of memory, especially one brought on by some distressing or shocking experience.

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Discover More

A common variant is selective amnesia; the term is applied to public officials who, when questioned about alleged wrongdoing, profess that they cannot remember.

Other Word Forms

• amnesiac adjective
• amnestic adjective

Etymology

Origin of amnesia

1780–90; < New Latin < Greek amnēsía, variant of amnēstía oblivion; perhaps learnedly formed from mnē-, stem of mimnḗskesthai to remember ( cf. mnemonic) + -s- + -ia -ia. See amnesty

Explanation

When you have amnesia you can't remember what happened to you in the past. Amnesia is a total or partial memory loss. Some causes of amnesia are brain injury, disease, drug or alcohol abuse, and the deterioration of the brain associated with old age or dementia. With amnesia, memory can be regained, or it can be lost forever. It can be complete, encompassing everything you ever knew, or it can be specific to a time such as the hours leading up to an accident or trauma. If you forget the meaning of a word, it's not amnesia, that's just the way the mind works sometimes.

Example Sentences

Desperate to escape the confinement of her home life, Dilara becomes drawn to these women, and “The Renovation” delves further into the themes of emigration, amnesia and incarceration.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

Transient global amnesia is a sudden, temporary interruption of short-term memory.

From BBC • Jan. 4, 2026

For me, these bits and pieces of one man’s story connect to the longer and more tragic tale of the American-Afghan century, now erased in near-total amnesia.

From Salon • Dec. 13, 2025

The millennial icon, as luminous as ever, plays a filthy-rich hotel heiress named Sierra Belmont, who develops amnesia after bumping her head in a skiing accident.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 3, 2025

I’d become a photoshopping error, and our two weeks away on break had given everyone some kind of amnesia.

From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi