SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
negligence
noun
Failure to give the care or attention reasonably required by a situation.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Failure of due care
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topNegligence has specific legal uses; this group explains the general meaning of insufficient care or attention.
RELATED FORMS, ONE FEATURED ENTRY
The negligent family
negligence is grouped under negligent in the main dictionaries. This form keeps its meaning and previous study record.
negligentadjective
Failing to exercise the care or attention a responsibility requires.
Insufficiently careful
Closest synonyms
Related expressions
The fictional supervisor was negligent in ignoring repeated reports of a broken lock.
A negligent proofreader accepted responsibility for checking contributor names but skipped the task and marked the guide as reviewed anyway.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See negligence in use
The fictional caretaker's negligence allowed a small leak to damage the records.
The review found negligence in the handling of the listing: a responsible editor had skipped an agreed check despite having the necessary message and enough time.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license