definitions

negligent

[ neg-li-juhnt ]
/ ˈnɛg lɪ dʒənt /
||
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR negligent ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

guilty of or characterized by neglect, as of duty: negligent officials.
lazily careless; offhand: a negligent wave of his manicured hand.

RELATED CONTENT

Malpractice, Malarkey, And Other Words From The Second Democratic DebateHere's our roundup of top terms that created buzz on Dictionary.com during the second Democratic debate. For the first five words, we can thank the 10 candidates from the first night of the debate on July 30, and for the second five, the remaining 10 debating on July 31.
READ MORE

RELATED WORDS

inattentive, lax, inadvertent, sloppy, cursory, delinquent, derelict, forgetful, heedless, inconsiderate, neglectful, nonchalant, offhand, regardless, remiss, slack, slapdash, slipshod, slovenly, thoughtless

Nearby words

negev, neglect, neglectful, negligee, negligence, negligent, negligible, negotiable, negotiable instrument, negotiant, negotiate

Origin of negligent

1350–1400; Middle English, variant of necligent < Latin negligent-, necligent-, stem of negligēns, present participle of negligere, variant of neglegere to neglect; see -ent

Related forms

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for negligent

British Dictionary definitions for negligent

negligent

/ (ˈnɛɡlɪdʒənt) /

adjective

habitually neglecting duties, responsibilities, etc; lacking attention, care, or concern; neglectful
careless or nonchalant

Derived Forms

negligently, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012