English has been depending upon the word forget since before the 12th century, but in 1805 a new rival appeared in print - "disremember." A critic in 1869 called "disremember" both "obsolete" and "a low vulgarism," and later grammarians have agreed; it has been labeled "provincial and archaic," and in 1970 Harry Shaw opined that "disremember" was "an illiteracy," adding, "never use this word in standard English." (By 1975, Shaw amended his opinion to "this word is dialectal rather than illiterate.") "Forget" is indeed a vastly more popular word, but "disremember" still turns up occasionally, often in dialectal or humorous contexts.
with advancing age I seem to disremember quite a lot of things
Recent Examples on the WebWords disremembered, abandoned from tents & saw / packs.—oregonlive, 19 Mar. 2020
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'disremember.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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