pretermit
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to let pass without notice; disregard.
-
to leave undone; neglect; omit.
-
to suspend or interrupt.
The government temporarily pretermitted its repayments of foreign aid.
verb
-
to overlook intentionally; disregard
-
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:
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
Then there are all manner of the ordinary maladies of humanity, which I pretermit.
From My Life as an Author by Martin Farquhar Tupper
One thing, in conclusion, he "may not pretermit" to give the lie in the throat to his accuser, where he charges him with seeking support against his native country.
From Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson
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
We will pretermit these absurd and silly men: but, Cousin Lucian!
From Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection by Walter Savage Landor
“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
The liberty of the subject lies only in such things as the sovereign has pretermitted, for he hath power to regulate all, even life and death, at his own will.
From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 14 — Philosophy and Economics by Sir John Alexander Hammerton
The monotonous strokes of an axe were suddenly pretermitted, and somewhere from the depths of the close-set pines a voice answered "Flip."
From Flip, a California romance by Bret Harte
But the time came, as I say, when it was represented to me that all this was an indulgence which, for a season at least, must be pretermitted.
From The Secret Glory by Arthur Machen
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.
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.
