memorising

Meaning

1. 1verbtransitiveBritish

   Learning something so well that you can remember it exactly without looking at it again.

   Grammar: Takes an object: she is memorising the speech. Used as the -ing form of memorise.

   Patterns

   • memorising something
   • spend time memorising something

   She spent the evening memorising her lines for the play.

   Memorising long lists of dates is a tiring way to study.

   He is memorising the phone numbers of his family.

Word forms

Common combinations

memorising facts

Memorising facts is not the same as understanding a subject.

memorising vocabulary

Memorising vocabulary works best with regular repeated practice.

spend hours memorising

He spent hours memorising the periodic table.

memorising by heart

Memorising poems by heart helps the sound stay in your mind.

Synonyms and how they differ

learning by heart

Learning by heart is a common everyday phrase that suggests word-for-word recall, much like memorising.

committing to memory

Committing to memory is more formal and sounds more deliberate than memorising.

revising

Revising means going over material you already know, whereas memorising is the act of making it stick.

cramming

Cramming means trying to learn a lot in a short time, usually before an exam, and is less effective than steady memorising.

Opposites

Word family

memory noun

the ability to keep things in mind

memorise verb

to learn something so you can recall it exactly

memorisation noun

the act of learning something by heart

memorable adjective

easy to remember or worth remembering

Commonly confused: memorising or memorizing?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “memorising”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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