"lest we forget" meaning in English

See lest we forget in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

IPA: /lɛst wi fə(ɹ)ˈɡɛt/, /-fɔː(ɹ)-/ [uncommon] Audio: en-au-lest we forget.ogg (note: AuE)
enPR: lĕst wē fər-gĕt′, -fôr- [uncommon] Etymology: From the 1897 poem “Recessional” by English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling. Etymology templates: {{coin|en|Q34743|nocat=1|notext=1}} English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling
  1. Used in ceremonies and memorials as a caution against forgetting those who died in war.
    (UK and Canada) Used in Remembrance Day ceremonies as a caution against forgetting those who died in war.
    Tags: Canada, UK Related terms: in, launched 1999, “lest we forget, phr.”, in, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present
    Sense id: en-lest_we_forget-en-intj-oxYcWzpz Categories (other): British English, Canadian English, English entries with incorrect language header, English subjunctive expressions, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 52 48 Disambiguation of English subjunctive expressions: 55 45 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 51 49 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 51 49 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 50 50
  2. Used in ceremonies and memorials as a caution against forgetting those who died in war.
    (Australia and New Zealand) Used on Anzac Day memorials as a caution against forgetting those who died in World War I.
    Tags: Australia, New-Zealand
    Sense id: en-lest_we_forget-en-intj-iqNnG4WS Categories (other): Australian English, New Zealand English, English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with French translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 52 48 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 51 49 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 51 49 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 51 49 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 52 48 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 50 50
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Translations (used in ceremonies and memorials as a caution against forgetting those who died in war): n'oublions jamais [Canada] (French), abyśmy nie zapomnieli (Polish)
Disambiguation of 'used in ceremonies and memorials as a caution against forgetting those who died in war': 50 50
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-07-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-07-06 using wiktextract (e62056b and e7887d5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.