To forget is to fail to remember something. It can happen because time has passed, you were not paying attention, or the memory was never stored strongly.
From Old English “forgietan,” where “for-” often added a sense of completely or away, and “-gietan” meant “to get” or “to grasp.” So forgetting originally suggested “letting go of what you had grasped in mind.”
Your brain is designed to forget; it clears out details so you’re not overwhelmed. Forgetting isn’t just failure—it’s a feature that helps you focus on what matters now instead of everything you’ve ever seen.
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