Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not retentive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Not retentive

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of memory) deficient in retentiveness or range

Etymologies

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Examples

  • “It was nae sic thing,” said Madge, whose unretentive memory let out, in the eagerness of contradiction, all that she would have most wished to keep concealed, had her judgment been equal to her inclination.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian 2007

  • To go and tell any friend, wife, or mistress, any secret with which they have nothing to do, is discovering to them such an unretentive weakness, as must convince them that you will tell it to twenty others, and consequently that they may reveal it without the risk of being discovered.

    Letters to his son on The Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman 2005

  • Hogarth personated the spectre, but so unretentive -- (we are told) -- was his memory that though the speech consisted only of two lines he was unable to get them by heart, and his facetious associates wrote them on an illuminated lantern that he might read them when he came upon the stage.

    The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 382, July 25, 1829 Various

  • The old Danaïde only saw an opportunity for pouring another people into her ill-made and unretentive cask.

    The Roman Question Edmond About 1856

  • With great deference to former critics, I think this emendation is the most probable, as it accords with the sentiment of Helena, who means to depict her _vast_ but unretentive sieve, into which she poured the waters of her love.

    Notes and Queries, Number 73, March 22, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. Various 1852

  • ` ` It was nae sic thing, '' said Madge, whose unretentive memory let out, in the eagerness of contradiction, all that she would have most wished to keep concealed, had her judgment been equal to her inclination.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian 1822

  • "It was nae sic thing," said Madge, whose unretentive memory let out, in the eagerness of contradiction, all that she would have most wished to keep concealed, had her judgment been equal to her inclination.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 1 Walter Scott 1801

  • "It was nae sic thing," said Madge, whose unretentive memory let out, in the eagerness of contradiction, all that she would have most wished to keep concealed, had her judgment been equal to her inclination.

    The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Complete Walter Scott 1801

  • To go and tell any friend, wife, or mistress, any secret with which they have nothing to do, is discovering to them such an unretentive weakness, as must convince them that you will tell it to twenty others, and consequently that they may reveal it without the risk of being discovered.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Earl of Chesterfield Works Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield 1733

  • To go and tell any friend, wife, or mistress, any secret with which they have nothing to do, is discovering to them such an unretentive weakness, as must convince them that you will tell it to twenty others, and consequently that they may reveal it without the risk of being discovered.

    Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1748 Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield 1733

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