negligent

American  

[neg-li-juhnt] / ˈnɛg lɪ dʒənt /

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.

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negligent British  

/ ˈnɛɡlɪdʒənt /

adjective

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

2. careless or nonchalant

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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

On Wednesday, the ninth day of deliberation, the jury found that Meta and YouTube were negligent in a case that accused the companies of designing their apps to be addictive and harmful to teens.

From The Wall Street Journal

Starmer said officials would study "very carefully" Wednesday's decision by a jury in Los Angeles, which found that Meta and YouTube were negligent in the design and operation of their platforms.

From Barron's

Jurors found the companies were negligent, and the design of their apps caused harm to children.

From The Wall Street Journal

It ruled those apps are addictive, and deliberately engineered that way – and that its owners have been negligent in their safeguarding of the children who have used them.

From BBC

But plaintiffs are trying to dodge that law by arguing the platforms were negligent in how they designed their sites.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• inadvertent
• inattentive
• lax
• sloppy