amnesia
/æm'ni:zjə/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- A medical condition involving partial or total loss of memory: "Amnesia" refers to a deficit in memory caused by brain damage, disease, or psychological trauma. It can affect the ability to recall past information (retrograde amnesia) or form new memories (anterograde amnesia).
Usage and Examples
- Noun:
- The car accident caused him to suffer from amnesia, and he couldn't remember his own name.
- Doctors diagnosed the patient with transient global amnesia after the sudden episode of memory loss.
- The character's amnesia was a key plot point in the film.
Advanced Usage
"Infantile amnesia": The common inability of adults to remember early childhood events.
- Infantile amnesia explains why most people cannot recall their first few years of life.
"Dissociative amnesia": A psychological condition where a person blocks out certain information, usually associated with a stressful or traumatic event.
- The soldier experienced dissociative amnesia, forgetting entire weeks of his deployment.
Variants and Related Words
Amnesiac (noun): A person affected by amnesia.
- The amnesiac was unable to provide any details about his past.
Amnesic (adjective): Relating to or suffering from amnesia.
- The patient displayed amnesic symptoms following the stroke.
Synonyms
- Memory loss: The general condition of losing memories.
- Forgetfulness: A less clinical term for a tendency to forget, though not as severe as amnesia.
Related Phrases and Idioms
A bout of amnesia: A temporary period of memory loss.
- He joked about having a bout of amnesia when he forgot his friend's birthday.
Convenient amnesia: A humorous or critical way to describe when someone pretends to forget something to avoid responsibility.
- The politician seemed to have a case of convenient amnesia when questioned about the scandal.
Noun
- partial or total loss of memory
- he has a total blackout for events of the evening