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
Mr. Chandler certainly gets it, making Hal a wisecracking, long-suffering delinquent who’s as charming as he is insubordinate—not an original type, perhaps, but the actor makes his character the magnetic force of the whole series.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
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
I can’t get past the feeling that this is just some juvenile delinquent trying to freak everybody out.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
It was used in October 2005 by then-French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, to describe young delinquents and rioters during a tense visit to the housing projects of Paris suburb Argenteuil.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
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
The idea of teenage delinquents in ducktail haircuts strolling through the Manhattan slums, clicking their fingers in unison and protecting their turf, was already quaint lore from the half-forgotten Eisenhower era.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2025
She felt that the only reason they’d survived this long without turning into cowardly wimps or juvenile delinquents was because they’d had each other.
From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech
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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.
