SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
negligent
adjective
Failing to exercise the care or attention a responsibility requires.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Insufficiently careful
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topNegligent describes inadequate care for a responsibility; it does not necessarily imply intentional harm.
RELATED FORMS, ONE FEATURED ENTRY
The negligent family
These forms are closely related, but their grammar and use are not identical. Expand a form to compare its meaning and examples.
negligencenoun
Failure to give the care or attention reasonably required by a situation.
Failure of due care
Closest synonyms
Related expressions
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.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See negligent in use
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.
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