negligent
Americanadjective
-
guilty of or characterized by neglect, as of duty.
negligent officials.
- Synonyms:
- neglectful
-
lazily careless; offhand.
a negligent wave of his manicured hand.
adjective
-
habitually neglecting duties, responsibilities, etc; lacking attention, care, or concern; neglectful
-
careless or nonchalant
Other Word Forms
- negligently adverb
- nonnegligent adjective
- nonnegligently adverb
- overnegligent adjective
- overnegligently adverb
- prenegligent adjective
- quasi-negligent adjective
- supernegligent adjective
- supernegligently adverb
- unnegligent adjective
Etymology
Origin of negligent
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, variant of necligent, from Latin necligent-, negligent-, stem of negligēns “disregarding,” present participle of negligere, variant of neglegere “to disregard, ignore, slight”; neglect
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.
She said it was "negligent" it had taken nearly a year since the inquest for the consultation to begin.
From BBC
Police initially sought charges of aggravated murder but later downgraded them to negligent homicide.
From Barron's
The court found there was "negligent conduct involving a conflict of interest."
From Barron's
The plaintiffs allege that the platforms are negligent and purposely designed to be harmful, echoing a strategy successfully used against the tobacco industry.
From Barron's
Related: ‘Guests tell me I have dust bunnies’: My $150-an-hour cleaner has become increasingly negligent.
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.
