amnesia

[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.
Origin
1780-90; < Neo-Latin < Greek amnēsía, variant of amnēstía oblivion; perhaps learnedly formed from mnē-, stem of mimnḗskesthai to remember (cf. mnemonic) + -s- + -ia -ia. See amnesty
Related forms
amnestic
[am-nes-tik] /æmˈnɛs tɪk/ (Show IPA), adjective
Examples from the web for amnesia
  • amnesia is still popular in the movies, as it always has been.
  • It is a good natured article about faith based amnesia.
  • He developed a syndrome neurologists call profound amnesia.
  • Now, that is what one could call quite an amazing case of amnesia.
  • And as usual, now everyone is down with a bad case of collective amnesia.
  • People from the west have a natural tendency of historic amnesia.
  • But the trick is to balance forgetting with necessary remembering, to avoid historical amnesia.
  • Another had amnesia for several weeks after the quake.
  • It's an amazing thing, and quite a frightening thing, that a culture could be capable of amnesia in such a drastic form.
  • The science behind that kind of amnesia remains murky, because such intense fear is a state as yet inaccessible to science.
British Dictionary definitions for amnesia

amnesia

/æmˈniːzjə; -ʒjə; -zɪə/
noun
1.
a defect in memory, esp one resulting from pathological cause, such as brain damage or hysteria
Derived Forms
amnesiac (æmˈniːzɪˌæk), amnesic (æmˈniːsɪk; -zɪk) adjective, noun
Word Origin
C19: via New Latin from Greek: forgetfulness, probably from amnēstia oblivion; see amnesty
Word Origin and History for amnesia
n.

"loss of memory," 1786 (as a Greek word in English from 1670s), Modern Latin, coined from Greek amnesia "forgetfulness," from a-, privative prefix, "not" (see a- (3)) + mimneskesthai "to recall, cause to remember," a reduplicated form related to Greek mnemnon "mindful," mneme "memory," mnasthai "to remember;" from PIE root *men- "to think, remember" (see mind (n.)).

amnesia in Medicine

amnesia am·ne·sia (ām-nē'zhə)
n.
The loss or impairment of memory.

amnesia in Science
amnesia
  (ām-nē'zhə)   
Partial or total loss of memory, usually caused by brain injury or shock.
amnesia in Culture
amnesia [(am-nee-zhuh)]

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

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