negligent

[ neg-li-juhnt ]

adjective

1. guilty of or characterized by neglect, as of duty:

   negligent officials.

   Synonyms: neglectful

2. lazily careless; offhand:

   a negligent wave of his manicured hand.

negligent

/ ˈnɛɡlɪdʒənt /

adjective

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

Derived Forms

• ˈnegligently, adverb

Other Words From

• negli·gent·ly adverb
• non·negli·gent adjective
• non·negli·gent·ly adverb
• over·negli·gent adjective
• over·negli·gent·ly adverb
• pre·negli·gent adjective
• quasi-negli·gent adjective
• super·negli·gent adjective
• super·negli·gent·ly adverb
• un·negli·gent adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of negligent¹

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

"The arrest was also made to establish where there were any actions or omissions by that individual that were believed to be grossly negligent and we have now reached a position where we do not believe that to be the case."

From BBC

Thurrock "believes that valuations of the solar assets undertaken by APSE, which they allowed the council to rely on, were negligent and overvalued those assets".

From BBC

District Judge Joanna Dickens, sitting at Swindon Magistrates Court, ruled the company was negligent, because "of the failure to install monitoring equipment at an earlier time".

From BBC

Jeffrey Darren Hue, was arrested Thursday at a private residence in San Francisco on suspicion of more than a dozen charges, including assault on a person with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a negligent manner.

From Los Angeles Times

The Court of Session in Edinburgh has been told Scottish ministers were negligent when they claimed the scheme was viable.

From BBC

Related Words

• inadvertent
• inattentive
• lax
• sloppy