Definitions for: Neglect


[n] willful lack of care and attention
[n] failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances
[n] the trait of neglecting responsibilities and lacking concern
[n] lack of attention and due care
[n] the state of something that has been unused and neglected; "the house was in a terrible state of neglect"
[v] leave undone or leave out; "How could I miss that typo?"; "The workers on the conveyor belt miss one out of ten"
[v] fail to attend to; "he neglects his children"
[v] give little or no attention to; "Disregard the errors"
[v] fail to do something; leave something undone; "She failed to notice that her child was no longer in his crib"; "The secretary failed to call the customer and the company lost the account"



Webster (1913) Definition: Neg*lect", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Neglected; p. pr. &
vb. n. Neglecting.] [L. neglectus, p. p. of neglegere
(negligere) to disregard, neglect, the literal sense prob.
neing, not to pick up; nec not, nor (fr. ne not + -que, a
particle akin to Goth. -h, -uh, and prob. to E. who; cf.
Goth. nih nor) + L. legere to pick up, gather. See No,
adv., Legend, Who.]
1. Not to attend to with due care or attention; to forbear
one's duty in regard to; to suffer to pass unimproved,
unheeded, undone, etc.; to omit; to disregard; to slight;
as, to neglect duty or business; to neglect to pay debts.

I hope My absence doth neglect no great designs.
--Shak.

This, my long suffering and my day of grace, Those
who neglect and scorn shall never taste. --Milton.

2. To omit to notice; to forbear to treat with attention or
respect; to slight; as, to neglect strangers.

Syn: To slight; overlook; disregard; disesteem; contemn. See
Slight.


Neg*lect", n. [L. neglectus. See Neglect, v.]
1. Omission of proper attention; avoidance or disregard of
duty, from heedlessness, indifference, or willfulness;
failure to do, use, or heed anything; culpable disregard;
as, neglect of business, of health, of economy.

To tell thee sadly, shepherd, without blame, Or our
neglect, we lost her as we came. --Milton.

2. Omission if attention or civilities; slight; as, neglect
of strangers.

3. Habitual carelessness; negligence.

Age breeds neglect in all. --Denham.

4. The state of being disregarded, slighted, or neglected.

Rescue my poor remains from vile neglect. --Prior.

Syn: Negligence; inattention; disregard; disesteem;
remissness; indifference. See Negligence.

Synonyms: carelessness, disregard, disregard, disregard, disuse, drop, fail, ignore, leave out, miss, neglectfulness, negligence, negligence, nonperformance, omit, overleap, overlook, pretermit

Antonyms: attend to, take to heart

See Also: carelessness, choke, comparative negligence, concurrent negligence, contributory negligence, criminal negligence, culpable negligence, declination, decline, default, default on, delinquency, dereliction, dereliction, despite, dodging, escape, evasion, forget, inattention, jump, laxity, laxness, miss, mistreatment, muff, neglect of duty, nonaccomplishment, nonachievement, omission, omission, pass over, remissness, skip, skip over, slack, strike out, willful neglect

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