Henri Lansbury sealed all three points for Forest just before half time
Andrew Surman's stunning early goal had put promotion-chasing Bournemouth ahead only for the Reds to hit back via Jamaal Lascelles and Lansbury goals.
Lansbury's free-kick a minute before half-time means the stand-in-skipper has now scored in all of boss Dougie Freedman's five matches since taking charge - the Reds having now accumulated an impressive 13 points from 15 under his stewardship.
Now without a win in four Championship matches, the result left the Cherries four points adrift of the automatic promotion places as they lost ground at the top following wins for all of their rivals 24 hours earlier.
Starting ferociously on the front foot, they showed exactly the intent their boss would have wanted when they took a third-minute lead.
A short-corner routine found Surman on the edge of the area and he brilliantly curled inside the left post to silence the City Ground.
The Reds are a far tougher nut to crack since Stuart Pearce was replaced by Freedman, though, and 18 minutes later they were level.
Newspaper Review - Wednesday 25 February
Once again, the warning signs had been there as the Reds' third straight corner was finally rewarded with Ben Osborn's delivery only half cleared to Lascelles, who lashed home through a crowd of bodies.
A fine first-half turnaround by the home side was completed a minute before the break.
Simon Francis' foul left Lansbury, to the left of the 'D', in range and he superbly curled his free-kick inside Artur Boruc's near post.
Newcastle-bound defender Lascelles almost bagged a second after the break only for his header to be cleared off the line by Smith.
But Surman spurned a golden opportunity to level things up when he rose unmarked to meet Ryan Fraser's cross only to head wide.
Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe said: "The way we started I am baffled as to how we lost that game. We lost our momentum.
"The promotion race is going to the wire. Teams will write us off after this but that's fine. We will make sure we don't panic.
"I don't see a lack of confidence and I still believe this team is good enough to finish in the top two."
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