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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a person who is delinquent.
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
- delinquently adverb
- nondelinquent adjective
- predelinquent adjective
- predelinquently adverb
- undelinquent adjective
- undelinquently adverb
Etymology
Origin of delinquent
1475–85; < Latin dēlinquent-; delinquency
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.
These auto-loan figures exclude accounts that are regarded as “seriously derogatory,” which refer to severely delinquent, charged-off or repossessed debts that are usually shut down and written off by lenders.
From MarketWatch
If they missed payments for three consecutive months, they were placed in forbearance so their loans wouldn’t become increasingly delinquent and mar their credit records.
More than three million federal student-loan borrowers recently fell into default status, meaning they haven’t made payments in more than 270 days, and many more were seriously delinquent on payments, according to Education Department data.
Is this place always a ghost town, or do they clear it out whenever one of their delinquents is going to show up so the regular people don’t have to mingle with the bad guys?
From Literature
“Get them as far back as you can, and keep paying perfectly. You don’t have to pay extra, but you can’t have anything be delinquent.”
From MarketWatch
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.
