memory

The definition of memory is the power of the brain to recall past experiences or information.

(noun)

An example of memory is someone remembering the date for their wedding anniversary.

YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2013 by LoveToKnow Corp.

See memory in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun pl. memories

  1. the power, act, or process of recalling to mind facts previously learned or past experiences
  2. the total of what one remembers
  3. a person, thing, happening, or act remembered
  4. the length of time over which remembering extends: a happening within the memory of living men
  5. commemoration or remembrance: in memory of his father
  6. the fact of being remembered; posthumous reputation
  7. plastic memory
  8. Electronics
    1. a device in a computer, guidance system, etc., designed to accept, store, and recall information or instructions; specif., random-access memory
    2. storage or storage capacity as of a computer, disk, etc.

Origin: ME memorie < OFr < L memoria < memor, mindful, remembering < IE *mimoro-, redupl. of base *(s)mer-, to remember, recall > merit

See memory in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun pl. mem·o·ries
  1. The mental faculty of retaining and recalling past experience.
  2. The act or an instance of remembering; recollection: spent the afternoon lost in memory.
  3. All that a person can remember: It hasn't happened in my memory.
  4. Something remembered: pleasant childhood memories.
  5. The fact of being remembered; remembrance: dedicated to their parents' memory.
  6. The period of time covered by the remembrance or recollection of a person or group of persons: within the memory of humankind.
  7. Biology Persistent modification of behavior resulting from an animal's experience.
  8. Computer Science
    a. A unit of a computer that preserves data for retrieval.
    b. Capacity for storing information: two gigabytes of memory.
  9. Statistics The set of past events affecting a given event in a stochastic process.
  10. The capacity of a material, such as plastic or metal, to return to a previous shape after deformation.
  11. Immunology The ability of the immune system to respond faster and more powerfully to subsequent exposure to an antigen.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English memorie

Origin: , from Anglo-French

Origin: , from Latin memoria

Origin: , from memor, mindful; see (s)mer-1 in Indo-European roots

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See memory in Ologies

Memory

amnesia

a loss or lack of memory. —amnesiac, n. —amnesie, adj.

anamnesis

1. a reminiscence.

2. (cap.) the section of Christian liturgies rehearsing the sacriflee of Christ and ending “Do this in remembrance of me.” —anamnestic, adj.

cryptomnesia

the occurrence in consciousness of images not recognized as produced by the memory and its storage of events and scènes. —cryptomnesic, adj.

déjà vu

Psychology. the illusion of having previously experienced something actually being encountered for the first time.

memoria technica

any mnemonic device or aidememoire, especially a technical device.

mnemonics

the process or technique of improving, assisting, or developing the memory. Also called mnemotechnics. —mnemonic, adj.

panmnesia

the belief that every mental impression remains in the memory.

paramnesia

Psychiatry. a distortion of memory in which fact and fancy are confused.

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