memorize

Alternative forms

• memorise (non-Oxford British English)

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛm.əˌɹaɪ̯z/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmem.əˌɹɑɪ̯z/
• Hyphenation: mem‧or‧ize

Verb

memorize (third-person singular simple present memorizes, present participle memorizing, simple past and past participle memorized)

1. To fully learn so as to have entirely available to the memory; to learn by heart, commit to memory.
   • 2007, Don DeLillo, Underworld: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner Classics, →ISBN, page 543:

     I wanted to look up velleity and quotidian and memorize the fuckers for all time, spell them, learn them, pronounce them syllable by syllable—vocalize, phonate, utter the sounds, say the words for all they're worth.

   • 2009, A Practical Study of Argument, →ISBN, page 123:

     Many years ago there was a rumor that a basketball star (Jerry Lucas of the New York Knicks) had memorized the entire Manhattan phone book.

   • 2009, Hailey Abbott, The Perfect Boy, →ISBN, page 258:

     She was so used to the way he moved—they'd been practicing together for years, and she'd memorized the way his body worked.

Verb

memorize

1. inflection of memorizar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative