Amnesias

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A set of disorders marked by the inability to remember past events or acquire new information
2. Conditions characterized by partial or complete loss of memory functions
3. Disorders involving failure to recall recent or distant events or learn new information

Etymology: "Amnesias" is simply the plural of "amnesia," so the story belongs to the singular. The root is the Ancient Greek verb "mimnēskō," meaning "to remind" or "to remember," which, with the alpha privative (a prefix meaning "not"), produced "amnēsia," or "forgetfulness." The Greek word is itself a noun formed from that negated verb, so the meaning is built directly into its parts: a forgetting, a state of not remembering. English took the term in modern times from modified Latin, the scholarly Latin used by physicians and naturalists to coin new technical vocabulary. Its use for a medical condition, rather than a general lapse of memory, is a later development. The plural form follows the usual pattern for Greek-derived nouns ending in "-ia" that are counted as distinct conditions, such as different kinds of memory loss.

Synonyms: forgetfulness, memory loss

Antonyms: recollection, memory