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.
A police spokesperson previously said they have reason to believe "those in charge at the company were grossly negligent", which led to the fire and caused it to "spread uncontrollably".
From BBC
"We have reason to believe that those in charge at the company were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties," a police spokesperson said.
From BBC
Instead of exploding at her negligent loved ones, she breaks free by taking off on her motorcycle to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.
From Salon
Wuterich maintained he could not remember what had happened in Safa's house, and agreed to plead guilty to one count of negligent dereliction of duty - a charge unrelated to any direct involvement in the killings.
From BBC
He was convicted of assault with a firearm, illegal possession of a firearm and negligent discharge of a gun, following a two-week trial that featured tearful testimony from Pete.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
