pretermit
Americanverb (used with object)
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to let pass without notice; disregard.
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to leave undone; neglect; omit.
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to suspend or interrupt.
The government temporarily pretermitted its repayments of foreign aid.
verb
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to overlook intentionally; disregard
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to fail to do; neglect; omit
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pretermit
1505–15; < Latin praetermittere to let pass, equivalent to praeter- preter- + mittere to let go, send
Explanation
To pretermit is to overlook or omit something. In an effort to make a family dinner pleasant, your parents might pretermit any discussions of sensitive or controversial issues that might lead to arguments. The verb pretermit is often used in a legal context, both for things that are accidentally left out and for those deliberately omitted. A person who neglects to update their will after having another child inadvertently pretermits that child from the will. A judge who refuses to consider a lawyer's motion in court because it was filed past the deadline pretermits the motion. Pretermit is from the Latin praetermittere and its roots, praeter, "past," and mittere, "to send."
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:
Freke, telling his funny stories, did not for one moment pretermit his study of the little comedy before him—Jacqueline and Throckmorton and Judith.
From Throckmorton by Molly Elliot Seawell
We will pretermit these absurd and silly men: but, Cousin Lucian!
From Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection by Walter Savage Landor
I have been led farther than I had foreseen, and various subjects for annotation have presented themselves which, though I have no direct need of them, I could not pretermit.
From Middlemarch by George Eliot
Still the Inquisition did not entirely pretermit its labors.
From A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume II by Henry Charles Lea
It cannot be demanded of me to pretermit, because of my crime, the duty more strongly required of me because of the crime.
From The Flight of the Shadow by George MacDonald
“The law ensures that the pretermitted heir is treated fairly and receives a portion of the estate as if there was no will in place,” the firm says.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2025
In the first year, however, this last privilege had to be pretermitted.
From The Twentieth Century American Being a Comparative Study of the Peoples of the Two Great Anglo-Saxon Nations by Harry Perry Robinson
It is true that the over-population was at least as dense in the epoch of lords and ladies, and that nowadays some customs which made Edinburgh notorious of yore have been fortunately pretermitted.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 1 (of 25) by Andrew Lang
I had no hold upon the boy, and pretermitted my design till I should have laid court to him and engaged his interest.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 20 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Mr. Slosson paused, and resumed his puffing, which exercise—perhaps owing to undue excitement—he had pretermitted.
From The Regent by Arnold Bennett
Daughters performed the said offices to their fathers, and sisters to their brothers; not pretermitting those who did not neglect their broken-pated bachelors to whom they paid equal attention.
From The Ned M'Keown Stories Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of William Carleton, Volume Three by William Carleton
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.
