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
The Outsiders
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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Touching Spirit Bear
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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:
Disclosures are due within 30 days of becoming a candidate or by May 15, whichever is later, and must be done annually, making Haynes delinquent.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
Loans couldn’t enter default during this time, and federal programs designed to help delinquent borrowers and debt forgiveness initiatives brought millions out of default.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Unity, to make a long story longer, was in the air that year — and not just because my separated parents were bonding over their juvenile delinquent son.
From Salon ● Jul. 3, 2026
Among delinquent student borrowers, “38 percent now have an auto loan, up from 30 percent before the pandemic,” the Urban Institute notes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
Byron had just turned thirteen so he was officially a teenage juvenile delinquent and didn’t think it was “cool” to touch anybody or let anyone touch him, even if it meant he froze to death.
From "The Watsons Go to Birmingham" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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
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
The federal tax collector gained the enhanced ability to identify tax delinquents with resources provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law in August of 2022.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 8, 2023
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
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.
