neglect

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin neglēctus, perfect passive participle of neglegō (“make light of, disregard, not to pick up”), a variant of neclegō, itself from nec (“not”) + legō (“pick up, select”). Recorded since 1529, as noun since 1588.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nɪˈɡlɛkt/
Audio (US) (file)
Rhymes: -ɛkt

Verb

neglect (third-person singular simple present neglects, present participle neglecting, simple past and past participle neglected)

(transitive) To fail to care for or attend to something.
to neglect duty or business; to neglect to pay debts
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iv]:
  I hope
  My absence doth neglect no great designs.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
  This, my long sufferance and my day of grace,
  Those who neglect and scorn, shall never taste.
- 2014 June 14, “It's a gas”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8891:
  One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. […] But out of sight is out of mind. And that, together with the inherent yuckiness of the subject, means that many old sewers have been neglected and are in dire need of repair.
(transitive) To omit to notice; to forbear to treat with attention or respect; to slight.
to neglect strangers
(transitive) To fail to do or carry out something due to oversight or carelessness.
- 1972 December 29, Richard Schickel, “Masterpieces underrated and overlooked”, in Life, volume 73, number 25, page 22:
  A friend of mine who runs an intellectual magazine was grousing about his movie critic, complaining that though the fellow had liked The Godfather (page 58), he had neglected to label it clearly as a masterpiece.
(transitive, mathematics) To ignore for the sake of simplifying calculations without significantly affecting accuracy.
We can neglect this term, as it approaches zero in the limit anyway.
This problem says to neglect air resistance.

Synonyms

(fail to care for): let slide
(to omit to notice): disregard, take no notice of; see also Thesaurus:ignore
(failure due to carelessness): fail, forget

Antonyms

(fail to care for): care, mind, reck; see also Thesaurus:care
(to omit to notice): consider, notice, regard; see also Thesaurus:pay attention

Derived terms

benign neglect
neglectful
neglectfully
neglectfulness

Related terms

negligee
negligent
negligence

Translations

fail to care for

Bulgarian: изоставям (bg) (izostavjam), занемарявам (bg) (zanemarjavam)
Catalan: negligir (ca)
Czech: zanedbávat (cs) impf, zanedbat (cs) pf
Danish: ignorere
Dutch: verwaarlozen (nl)
Esperanto: neglekti
Finnish: lyödä laimin
French: négliger (fr)
Galician: desleixar, descurar, descoidar, desilar, arranglar
Georgian: დაუდევრობა (daudevroba), მოუვლელობა (mouvleloba), ხელმიშვებულობა (xelmišvebuloba), ხელის მიშვება (xelis mišveba), მიგდება (migdeba)
German: vernachlässigen (de), verabsäumen (de), versäumen (de), missachten (de), unterlassen (de), hintanstellen (de), verwahrlosen lassen
Greek: παραμελώ (el) (parameló)
Ancient: παραμελέω (parameléō)
Italian: mancare (it), negligere, omettere (it), ignorare (it)
Latin: neglegō
Maori: whakangongo, whakahapa
Ngazidja Comorian: upuzi
Polish: zaniedbywać (pl) impf, zaniedbać (pl) pf
Portuguese: negligenciar (pt)
Russian: забрасывать (ru) (zabrasyvatʹ), запускать (ru) (zapuskatʹ)
Slovak: zanedbať pf
Spanish: descuidar (es), negligir (es)
Swedish: försumma (sv), uraktlåta (sv), negligera (sv)
Tagalog: pabayaan
Ukrainian: зане́дбувати impf (zanédbuvaty), занедба́ти pf (zanedbáty), занеха́ювати impf (zanexájuvaty), занеха́яти pf (zanexájaty)
Vietnamese: bỏ lơ, bỏ mặc

omit to notice; slight; disregard

Arabic: أَهْمَلَ‎ (ʾahmala)
Bulgarian: пренебрегвам (bg) (prenebregvam)
Catalan: negligir (ca)
Cherokee: ᎬᎨᏫᏍᏗ (gvgewisdi)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 忽略 (zh) (hūlüè), 忽视 (zh) (hūshì)
Czech: zanedbat (cs) pl
Danish: negligere (da), forsømme
Dutch: verwaarlozen (nl), negeren (nl), uit het oog verliezen
Esperanto: neglekti
Finnish: sivuuttaa (fi)
French: négliger (fr)
Galician: desleixar, descurar
Georgian: უგულვებელყოფა (ugulvebelq̇opa), არად მიჩნევა (arad mičneva), აბუჩად აგდება (abučad agdeba)
German: missachten (de), nicht beachten, ignorieren (de), zurücksetzen (de), benachteiligen (de), außer Acht lassen (de), übersehen (de), ausklammern (de), ausblenden (de), nicht berücksichtigen, übergehen (de), außer Betracht lassen
Greek: αμελώ (el) (ameló)
Ancient: ἀμελέω (ameléō)
Italian: tralasciare (it)
Japanese: 無視する (ja) (mushi suru), 忽略する (ja) (kotsuryaku suru)
Korean: 소홀히 하다 (ko) (soholhi hada), 등한히 하다 (ko) (deunghanhi hada)
Latin: neglegō, oblīvīscor
Maori: pī, whakangongo, whakahapa
Norman: néglyigi
Old Church Slavonic: небрѣщи impf (nebrěšti)
Old English: forġīeman, misġīeman, āġīemelēasian
Polish: zaniedbywać (pl) impf, zaniedbać (pl) pf
Portuguese: negligenciar (pt)
Romanian: neglija (ro), a nu ține cont de, delăsa (ro)
Russian: пренебрега́ть (ru) (prenebregátʹ)
Slovak: zanedbať pl
Spanish: descuidar (es), desoír (es), hacer caso omiso (es)
Swedish: försumma (sv)
Tagalog: pabayaan
Tocharian B: yäk-
Vietnamese: bỏ lơ, bỏ mặc

failure due to carelessness

Czech: zanedbat (cs)
Danish: forsømme, negligere (da)
Dutch: nalaten (nl), verzaken (nl)
Finnish: lyödä laimin
Galician: descurar, desleixar, desilar
German: versäumen (de), verfehlen (de), unterlassen (de)
Portuguese: negligenciar (pt)
Russian: упуска́ть (ru) (upuskátʹ)
Spanish: descuidar (es), negligir (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} négliger (fr)
Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} zapostaviti (sh)
Swedish: ^{(please verify)} försumma (sv)
Turkish: ^{(please verify)} ihmal etmek (tr)

Noun

neglect (countable and uncountable, plural neglects)

The act of neglecting.
The state of being neglected.
Habitual lack of care.

Synonyms

carelessness
negligence

Antonyms

consideration
notice
regard

Translations

act of neglecting

Arabic: إِهْمَال‎ m (ʾihmāl)
Bulgarian: пренебрежение (bg) n (prenebreženie)
Catalan: negligència (ca) f
Chinese: 疏忽 (zh) (shūhū)
Czech: zanedbání n
Danish: negligering c, forsømmelse c
Dutch: verwaarlozing (nl) f, nalatigheid (nl), onzorgvuldigheid (nl)
Esperanto: neglektado
Finnish: laiminlyönti (fi), välinpitämättömyys (fi); heitteillejättö (fi) (criminal neglect of a person)
French: négligence (fr) f
German: Vernachlässigung (de) f
Greek: αμέλεια (el) f (améleia)
Hebrew: הזנחה‎ (he) f (haznaha)
Hungarian: elhanyagolás (hu)
Irish: faillí f
Italian: negligenza (it) f
Japanese: 怠慢 (ja) (taiman), 無視 (ja) (mushi), 忽略 (ja) (kotsuryaku)
Korean: 태만 (ko) (taeman)
Latin: neglectus m
Old English: unġīemen f
Portuguese: negligência (pt) f
Russian: пренебреже́ние (ru) n (prenebrežénije)
Spanish: negligencia (es) f, abandono (es) m
Swedish: försummelse (sv) c

state of being neglected

Bulgarian: изоставеност (bg) f (izostavenost), запуснатост f (zapusnatost)
Danish: forsømthed
Dutch: verwaarlozing (nl)
Maori: iwikoretanga
Old English: unġīemen f, forġīemednes f

habitual lack of care

Bulgarian: небрежност (bg) f (nebrežnost)
Dutch: verwaarlozing (nl), nalatigheid (nl), zorgeloosheid (nl)
Finnish: välinpitämättömyys (fi)
French: négligence (fr) f
German: Nachlässigkeit (de) f
Old English: unġīemen f
Russian: небре́жность (ru) f (nebréžnostʹ)
Spanish: negligencia (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

French: ^{(please verify)} négligence (fr)
Greek: ^{(please verify)} αμέλεια (el) f (améleia), ^{(please verify)} αβλεψία (el) f (avlepsía)