negligible
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- negligibility noun
- negligibleness noun
- negligibly adverb
- nonnegligibility noun
- nonnegligible adjective
- nonnegligibleness noun
- nonnegligibly adverb
- quasi-negligible adjective
- quasi-negligibly adverb
Etymology
Origin of negligible
Explanation
When something is meaningless or insignificant because it is so little, it's negligible. The amount of interest you'll get on your savings is negligible, so you might as well spend your money. If you work really hard on something, but the praise you get for it is negligible, you won't try so hard next time. Besides meaning very small, negligible can mean unimportant or not worth paying attention to. If you get into a fender-bender, you've gotten into a car accident with negligible damage. School concert programs always offer a word of thanks to the principal and other members of the administration whose role in the concert seems to be negligible.
Vocabulary lists containing negligible
Essential English Vocabulary, List 2
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "N"
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It's the Little Things: Synonyms for "Small"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For hip osteoarthritis, evidence of moderate certainty pointed to negligible improvement.
From Science Daily • Feb. 25, 2026
Conversely, if it is pulled from the bottom-line—after the companies and the new government take their cut—the “dividend” for the average Venezuelan may be too negligible to spark the economic rebuilding Mr. McPherson envisions.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 3, 2026
Yet the negligible bump projected to insurers indicates that companies will be looking for cost-savings.
From Barron's • Jan. 27, 2026
He said the cost to the council of having "five or six more people in the pool" for each session was negligible.
From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026
Discounting a totally negligible incident a couple of years earlier, when he had methodically dragged the entire apartment for a mislaid or “stolen” tennis-racket press.
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
