plural memory holes
: the condition or state of being suppressed, erased, or forgotten (as for political or personal convenience) imagined as a physical place
The answer lies in bipartisan consensus of Republicans and Democrats to let the savings and loan debacle vanish down the memory hole.—
Alexander Cockburn
Alexander CockburnSixteen years after Americans troops crossed the Kuwaiti border into Iraq, a war that took the lives of more than 4,400 soldiers and left tens of thousands wounded has disappeared down the American people's collective memory hole.—Michael A. Cohen and Micah Zenko
Michael A. Cohen and Micah ZenkoA Runner's Journey shows how a lot of that history was shoved down a memory hole—including the political activism that swirled about the Berlin Olympics in 1936 …—Brian Bethune
Brian BethuneThe "historically low interest rates," thanks to low inflation, … seem destined … to be consigned to a similar memory hole, to be replaced with some new story about higher inflation yielding higher revenues.—Andrew Coyne
Andrew CoyneThe paper exerts editorial control over itself, of course, and the question is not one of putting a piece of information down the memory hole, but revisiting whether it was newsworthy to begin with. … The newspaper has established a 10-person committee to examine petitions from people asking to have articles updated—never removed, it's important to add.—Devin Coldewey
Devin Coldewey
mem·o·ry-hole
ˈmem-rē-ˌhōl 
ˈme-mə-
variants
or memory hole
memory-holed or memory holed; memory-holing or memory holing; memory-holes or memory holes
: to cause (facts, memories, etc. about the past) to be suppressed, erased, or forgotten (as for political or personal convenience)
Republicans have revisited criticism of Biden's Afghanistan withdrawal in light of the White House's recent report, which they accuse of trying to memory-hole the evacuation.—Brady Knox
Brady KnoxA year later, Roxbury's central hub became Nubian Square, memory-holing the name by which it had been known for generations, that of Puritan governor Thomas Dudley.—Jeff Jacoby
Jeff JacobyBut the fact is, I was an anxious mess when it seemed we were on the brink of a world war. … It's strange to me that I have since somehow memory-holed all that anxiety …—Lili Loofbourow
Lili LoofbourowExamples of memory hole in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Laura Beers, The Conversation, 20 Aug. 2025
Still, there’s a long history of July scandals disappearing down the memory hole of the long August break.
—Emily Brooks, The Hill, 14 Aug. 2025
The information about the institute which has avoided the memory hole just sits there, though this makes some of it glow brighter.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
In his bid to make Notre Dame the world’s favorite college football team, Bevacqua will be channeling all the moxie and quick thinking of the 19-year-old publicist who helped salvage Rice’s Four Horseman piece from the cultural memory hole that swallows up even the most engaging newspaper stories.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 22 Nov. 2024
Anyway, by late 1974, when the Woodward–Bernstein book was published, everyone knew the Watergate story chapter and verse, and Nixon had been safely packed away down the memory hole.
—Yiyun Li, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024
Some of these Marvel Cinematic Universe series (like Secret Invasion) seem to have immediately disappeared down a cultural memory hole, while others (like Ms. Marvel) feel a little redundant with the MCU movie that followed.
—Christian Holub, EW.com, 19 Sep. 2024
An unprecedented intervention effectively disappeared down a memory hole.
—Adam Tooze, Foreign Affairs, 13 Aug. 2018
Carlo Versano, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 June 2025
If nothing else, the line for Game 2 serves as a tacit acknowledgment that OKC is designed to memory-hole any setbacks that come its way.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 6 June 2025
The White House Council on Environmental Quality, which hosted the tool, has also been memory-holed.
—Mark Gongloff, The Mercury News, 19 Feb. 2025
Dealmakers believed that Trump 2.0 would usher in a new era of certainty, having memory-holed the original installment's constant chaos.
—Dan Primack, Axios, 10 Feb. 2025
News organizations are actively engaging in exactly the practice carried out by Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, memory-holing their previous publications to fit the new party line.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 26 July 2024
Like much of Trump’s tenure, the specifics of this fiasco have been memory-holed in the broader cloud of scandal and mismanagement.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 11 Jan. 2024
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Noun
In the end, fear of retaliation leads him to drop the slip of newsprint down a memory hole.
—Laura Beers, The Conversation, 20 Aug. 2025
Still, there’s a long history of July scandals disappearing down the memory hole of the long August break.
—Emily Brooks, The Hill, 14 Aug. 2025
The information about the institute which has avoided the memory hole just sits there, though this makes some of it glow brighter.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2025
In his bid to make Notre Dame the world’s favorite college football team, Bevacqua will be channeling all the moxie and quick thinking of the 19-year-old publicist who helped salvage Rice’s Four Horseman piece from the cultural memory hole that swallows up even the most engaging newspaper stories.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 22 Nov. 2024
Anyway, by late 1974, when the Woodward–Bernstein book was published, everyone knew the Watergate story chapter and verse, and Nixon had been safely packed away down the memory hole.
—Yiyun Li, Harper's Magazine, 23 Sep. 2024
Some of these Marvel Cinematic Universe series (like Secret Invasion) seem to have immediately disappeared down a cultural memory hole, while others (like Ms. Marvel) feel a little redundant with the MCU movie that followed.
—Christian Holub, EW.com, 19 Sep. 2024
An unprecedented intervention effectively disappeared down a memory hole.
—Adam Tooze, Foreign Affairs, 13 Aug. 2018
Verb
Obama doesn't get nearly enough flack for the NATO bombing campaign in Libya, one of the most short-sighted and memory-holed American military actions in history that had the twofer effect of destroying that entire country while also opening up a superhighway of mass immigration into Europe.
—Carlo Versano, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 June 2025
If nothing else, the line for Game 2 serves as a tacit acknowledgment that OKC is designed to memory-hole any setbacks that come its way.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 6 June 2025
The White House Council on Environmental Quality, which hosted the tool, has also been memory-holed.
—Mark Gongloff, The Mercury News, 19 Feb. 2025
Dealmakers believed that Trump 2.0 would usher in a new era of certainty, having memory-holed the original installment's constant chaos.
—Dan Primack, Axios, 10 Feb. 2025
News organizations are actively engaging in exactly the practice carried out by Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, memory-holing their previous publications to fit the new party line.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 26 July 2024
Like much of Trump’s tenure, the specifics of this fiasco have been memory-holed in the broader cloud of scandal and mismanagement.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 11 Jan. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Memory hole.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/memory%20hole. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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