What is a word that means unforgettable but with a negative connotation?
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Chapters
00:00 What Is A Word That Means Unforgettable But With A Negative Connotation?
00:30 Accepted Answer Score 45
00:51 Answer 2 Score 25
01:12 Answer 3 Score 20
01:34 Answer 4 Score 18
02:04 Answer 5 Score 8
02:53 Thank you
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Tags
#meaning #wordchoice #singlewordrequests #terminology
#avk47
ACCEPTED ANSWER
Score 45
For some purposes, I like:
indelible: making marks that cannot be removed
It makes me thinks of spills, stains, bad tattoos, burns... things that you want to delete, but can't.
Though I think @Sven-Yargs hit it on the head with haunting.
ANSWER 2
Score 25
traumatic may fit, even though the word means basically "causing mental or emotional problems, usually for a long time".
It was a traumatic experience for all of us.
Not all unforgettable events are traumatic but most traumatic events will be unforgettable.
ANSWER 3
Score 20
You would be able to get away with seared into my memory or similar variations as a phrase to describe such an event.
The train crash I saw that afternoon was seared into my memory.
The report on teen drug use seared itself into my memory.
I cannot think of any adjectives that would suit your purpose, however.
ANSWER 4
Score 18
If you're looking for adjectives, as opposed to phrases, then I think there are three good candidates:
inextirpable: incapable of being destroyed
inexpungible: incapable of being obliterated
inerasable: incapable of being erased
Of course, the implication with these words is that we might, in fact, like to destroy, obliterate, or erase the things they describe. They would be good fits for describing a memory that you would rather not have but can't seem to rid yourself of.
ANSWER 5
Score 8
"What has been seen cannot be unseen". Slang.
For citations see: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Citations:what_has_been_seen_cannot_be_unseen
e.g.
At Dachau he was witness to real rather than abstract suffering; what has been seen cannot be unseen, nor can it be rationalized.
Brad Prager, "Suffering and Sympathy in Volker Schlöndorff's Der neunte Tag and Dennis Gansel's NaPolA", in Screening War: Perspectives on German Suffering (eds. Paul Cooke & Marc Silberman), Camden House (2010), ISBN 9781571134370, page 196
Also, although 'unforgettable' by itself has a positive connotation, 'unforgettably' doesn't necessarily. E.g. The incident was was unforgettably traumatic