Meaning & use
short-term memory
The capacity to hold a small amount of information in mind for a brief period, typically seconds to a minute, without long-term storage.
See it in a sentence
She repeated the phone number aloud to keep it in her short-term memory long enough to dial it.
Lack of sleep can noticeably weaken short-term memory and concentration the next day.
A note on using this word
Short-term memory has limited capacity, often cited as around seven items, before information fades or transfers to long-term memory.
Words with a similar meaning
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