pretermit

American  

[pree-ter-mit] / ˌpri tərˈmɪt /

verb (used with object)

pretermitted, pretermitting

1. to let pass without notice; disregard.

2. to leave undone; neglect; omit.

3. to suspend or interrupt.

   The government temporarily pretermitted its repayments of foreign aid.

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pretermit British  

/ ˌpriːtəˈmɪt /

verb

1. to overlook intentionally; disregard

2. to fail to do; neglect; omit

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Other Word Forms

• pretermission
  noun
• pretermitter
  noun
• unpretermitted
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of pretermit

1505–15; < Latin praetermittere to let pass, equivalent to praeter- preter- + mittere to let go, send

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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

See Examples For:

pretermit pretermitted pretermitting

Now in the sairvice of Goad and the King 'tis raight to pretermit no aiffort to bring the guilty to justice.

From The Path of the King by John Buchan

He calmly said that no such demonstrations could induce him to add to or withhold a single syllable of what he designed to say, or to pretermit a single act he had designed to do.

From Edmond Dantès by Edmund Flagg

I must, therefore, reluctantly pretermit all such matter—reserving for some other occasion the gratification of the public curiosity therein.

From Quodlibet by John Pendleton Kennedy

I begged him not to pretermit his GUARDIAN, but to examine it and give me the news.

From The Grim Smile of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett

I pretermit their unparallel'd Impieties, &c. and only close all with this one Story that follows.

From A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies Or, a faithful NARRATIVE OF THE Horrid and Unexampled Massacres, Butcheries, and all manner of Cruelties, that Hell and Malice could invent, committed by the Popish Spanish Party on the inhabitants of West-India, TOGETHER With the Devastations of several Kingdoms in America by Fire and Sword, for the space of Forty and Two Years, from the time of its first Discovery by them. by Bartolomé de las Casas

“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

I search my diary in vain to find some pretermitted adventure wherewith to give you a thrill, or, as good Mrs. B. calls it, "a feel"; but I can find none.

From A First Year in Canterbury Settlement by Samuel Butler

There is one singular incident, however, mentioned in the passage immediately following the above, possessing too important a connexion with the final catastrophe to be pretermitted at this place.

From Memoir of an Eventful Expedition in Central America Resulting in the Discovery of the Idolatrous City of Iximaya, in an Unexplored Region; and the Possession of two Remarkable Aztec Children, Descendants and Specimens of the Sacerdotal Caste, (now nearly extinct,) of the Ancient Aztec Founders of the Ruined Temples of that Country, Described by John L. Stevens, Esq., and Other Travellers. by Pedro Velasquez

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

Beside these burning words of Mr. Carlyle any additional words of mine would stand only as superfluous foils, and are, therefore, considerately pretermitted.

From Old-Fashioned Ethics and Common-Sense Metaphysics With Some of Their Applications by William Thomas Thornton

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

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Related Words

• discount
• disregard
• ignore
• overlook
• reject
• spurn
• underestimate

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