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negligent

UK/ˈnɛɡ.lɪ.d͡ʒənt/US/ˈnɛɡ.lɪ.d͡ʒənt/
adjectiveC1Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,323 of 15,258neutral

Negligent means failing to take the care your duty requires. Grossly negligent, negligent driving, found negligent.

It is a legal finding as much as a description: being negligent means falling below the standard a reasonable person would meet, and it is the basis of most civil claims for injury. Gross negligence is a far worse grade and can be criminal. Note negligence; and the different word negligible, which means too small to matter and is constantly confused with it.

Definitions of negligent

  1. 1adjectivenegligentFailing to take the care your duty requires.C1

    “The hospital was found negligent for sending the patient home without proper tests.”

    synonyms: careless, remiss

negligent is a quality of carelessness.

Also accepted in games: careless

Where it comes from

Latin negligens comes from neglegere, to disregard — nec plus legere, to gather. To be negligent is literally not to pick something up.

  1. Latin

    negligēns

  2. Old French

    negligent

  3. Middle English

    necligent

  4. English, today

    negligent

From Middle English necligent, negligent, from Old French negligent, from Latin negligēns.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Sharper Adjectives

Practise this word

negligent in the wild

  • Negligence per se is a doctrine in US law whereby an act is considered negligent because it violates a statute (or regulation).

    Negligence per se

  • Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a negligent act or failure to act.

    Negligence

  • In the United Kingdom, common law gross negligent manslaughter covers the same conduct as negligent homicide.

    Negligent homicide

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.