delinquent
Americanadjective
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failing in or neglectful of a duty or obligation; guilty of a misdeed or offense.
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(of an account, tax, debt, etc.) past due; overdue.
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of or relating to delinquents or delinquency.
delinquent attitudes.
noun
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someone, esp a young person, guilty of delinquency See juvenile delinquent
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archaic a person who fails in an obligation or duty
adjective
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guilty of an offence or misdeed, esp one of a minor nature
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failing in or neglectful of duty or obligation
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nondelinquentadjective
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predelinquentadjective
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undelinquentadjective
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delinquentlyadverb
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predelinquentlyadverb
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undelinquentlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of delinquent
1475–85; < Latin dēlinquent-; see delinquency
Explanation
The adjective delinquent describes something that is past due or people who are negligent in doing their duty. If you are delinquent in paying your delinquent library fines, you won't be able to check out any more books. You may have heard the term juvenile delinquent, which refers to a young (juvenile) person who gets in trouble, often with the law, but people of any age can be delinquent. A delinquent landlord is one who doesn't make repairs. A delinquent tenant is one who does not pay his rent.
Vocabulary lists containing delinquent
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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.
See Examples For:
People were missing work, and had been delinquent on repairs, and late on bills, calling in favors everywhere, even for the essentials.
From Slate ● Oct. 26, 2026
The rate includes delinquent loans and likely borrower defaults.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 3, 2026
About 15% of FHA borrowers who took out a loan between June 2021 and March 2024 fell seriously delinquent within a year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
“I could go sit in a corner, and you can be a juvenile delinquent reading juvenile delinquent books.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
“Daddy left his computer laying around. Seems like he wanted to know all about his future juvenile delinquent superstar.”
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
The RF also affords some measure of security against top-slashing thieves and delinquents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
Opened in 1873, the privately operated detention facility housed petty delinquents and orphans, said Marc Schindler, a professor at Georgetown who leads the project.
From Barron's ● Feb. 27, 2026
“We are not delinquents, we are not bad people, we are here to work to support our family.”
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2025
During Easter week, the pope chose to perform the traditional washing of others’ feet in a facility for juvenile delinquents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2025
Reform, not punishment, is her modus operandi, and Celia has succeeded in converting many young delinquents into productive revolutionaries.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
