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retentiveness

retentiveness

6.8
How well a person remembers facts or past events
  • noun
  • /rɪˈtɛntɪvnəs/
translation icon : retentividad
  • Her remarkable retentiveness helped her remember every detail of the lecture for the exam.

Examples

  • The child's retentiveness was evident as he recalled the story word for word.

  • He studied diligently, confident that his retentiveness would allow him to ace the test.

  • All in all, I've gotten much better about my anal-retentiveness because it simply wasn't worth the time to indulge.

    Blog text (29)

Synonyms

memory
vsretentiveness
628 2.8

Ability to store and remember information, experiences, and skills

is the specific ability to keep and later recall experiences and facts
recollection
vsretentiveness
116 3.8

A memory of something from the past or the act of remembering it

is the general capacity to hold and bring back information over time
recall
vsretentiveness
25 2.8

Ability to remember things you learned

is the general capacity to keep information, not only the retrieval act
remembrance
vsretentiveness
14 3.9

The ability to remember people, events, or information

is the wider keeping and retrieving ability rather than one single memory
retention
vsretentiveness
11 4.6

Ability to remember information or past events

is the same capacity covering both holding and retrieving knowledge
retentivity
vsretentiveness
  • Specialized
8.6

The ability to remember and keep information or past experiences

is the same general capacity focusing on keeping and recalling facts

Antonyms

11 3.5

A habit of not remembering things like names or keys

How Retentive

retentiveness
6.8
memory
628 2.8
forgetfulness
11 3.5

Surface Forms

retentiveness singular

Morphology

retentiveness = retentive (transparent) = retent + ive + ness

Standard derivation: 'retentive' (able to retain information) + '-ness' forming a noun meaning the quality of being able to retain/recall.

Etymology

Retentiveness comes from the Latin root tenere 'to hold' together with re- 'back', and you can see the same idea in the word retain. So when we talk about memory, someone's retentiveness is their ability to 'hold on to' information and remember it later.