Adjacent Words

Neglect definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

NEGLECT, v.t. [G. To let, to leave, to suffer to pass. The sense of the latter words then is to leave behind, or permit to remain; I suspect the L. To be composed of the same prefix, as n is not radical in the latter. But of this I am not confident.]
1. To omit by carelessness or design; to forbear to do, use, employ, promote or attend to; as, to neglect duty or business; to neglect to pay honest debts; to neglect our interest or policy; to neglect the means in our power.
2. To omit to receive or embrace; to slight.
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? Hebrews 2.
3. To slight; not to notice; to forbear to treat with attention or respect. Among people of good breeding, strangers seldom complain of being neglected.
4. To postpone. [Not in use.]
NEGLECT, n.
1. Omission; forbearance to do any thing that can be done or that requires to be done. Neglect may be from carelessness or intention. The neglect of business is the cause of many failures, but neglect of economy is more frequent and more injurious.
2. Slight; omission of attention or civilities. Neglect of due notice and attention to strangers is characteristic of ill breeding.
3. Negligence; habitual want of regard.
Age breeds neglect in all.
4. State of being disregarded.
Rescue my poor remains from vile neglect.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: lack of attention and due care [syn: disregard, neglect]
2: the state of something that has been unused and neglected; "the house was in a terrible state of neglect" [syn: neglect, disuse]
3: willful lack of care and attention [syn: disregard, neglect]
4: the trait of neglecting responsibilities and lacking concern [syn: negligence, neglect, neglectfulness]
5: failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances [syn: negligence, carelessness, neglect, nonperformance] v
1: leave undone or leave out; "How could I miss that typo?"; "The workers on the conveyor belt miss one out of ten" [syn: neglect, pretermit, omit, drop, miss, leave out, overlook, overleap] [ant: attend to, take to heart]
2: 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" [syn: fail, neglect]
3: fail to attend to; "he neglects his children"
4: give little or no attention to; "Disregard the errors" [syn: neglect, ignore, disregard]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb Etymology: Latin neglectus, past participle of neglegere, neclegere, from nec- not (akin to ne- not) + legere to gather — more at no, legend Date: 1529 1. to give little attention or respect to ; disregard 2. to leave undone or unattended to especially through carelessness • neglecter noun Synonyms: neglect, disregard, ignore, overlook, slight, forget mean to pass over without giving due attention. neglect implies giving insufficient attention to something that merits one's attention <habitually neglected his studies>. disregard suggests voluntary inattention <disregarded the wishes of his family>. ignore implies a failure to regard something obvious <ignored the snide remark>. overlook suggests disregarding or ignoring through haste or lack of care <in my rush I overlooked a key example>. slight implies contemptuous or disdainful disregarding or omitting <slighted several major authors in her survey>. forget may suggest either a willful ignoring or a failure to impress something on one's mind <forget what others say>. II. noun Date: 1588 1. an act or instance of neglecting something 2. the condition of being neglected

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.tr. 1 fail to care for or to do; be remiss about (neglected their duty; neglected his children). 2 (foll. by verbal noun, or to + infin.) fail; overlook or forget the need to (neglected to inform them; neglected telling them). 3 not pay attention to; disregard (neglected the obvious warning). --n. 1 lack of caring; negligence (the house suffered from neglect). 2 a the act of neglecting. b the state of being neglected (the house fell into neglect). 3 (usu. foll. by of) disregard. Derivatives: neglectful adj. neglectfully adv. neglectfulness n. Etymology: L neglegere neglect- f. neg- not + legere choose, pick up

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Neglect 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Neglect 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(neglects, neglecting, neglected) 1. If you neglect someone or something, you fail to look after them properly. The woman denied that she had neglected her child... Feed plants and they grow, neglect them and they suffer. ...an ancient and neglected church. VERB: V n, V n, V-ed • Neglect is also a noun. The town's old quayside is collapsing after years of neglect... 2. If you neglect someone or something, you fail to give them the amount of attention that they deserve. He'd given too much to his career, worked long hours, neglected her... If you are not careful, children tend to neglect their homework. VERB: V n, V n • neglected The fact that she is not coming today makes her grandmother feel lonely and neglected. ... a neglected aspect of London's forgotten history... The journal she had begun lay neglected on her bedside table. = forgotten ADJ: v-link ADJ, ADJ n, ADJ after v 3. If you neglect to do something that you ought to do or neglect your duty, you fail to do it. We often neglect to make proper use of our bodies... They never neglect their duties. VERB: V to-inf, V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Omit, leave out, pass over. 2. Disregard, slight, contemn, overlook, pay no heed to, pay no regard to, leave out of view, leave on one side, not care a straw for, disesteem, despise. II. n. 1. Omission (of a particular act of duty), failure, default, remissness, carelessness, heedlessness, inattention. 2. Slight, disregard, disrespect. 3. Negligence, indifference. 4. Neglectedness, state of being disregarded.

Moby Thesaurus

Sisyphean labor, abandon, bad policy, be caught napping, be neglectful, be negligent, blink at, brush off, carelessness, cold-shoulder, contemn, cut, cut dead, default, delinquency, dereliction, disconformity, discount, disdain, dismiss, disregard, disrespect, elide, endless task, fail, failing, failure, forget, give the go-by, gloss over, heedlessness, ignore, impolicy, inaction, inactivity, inadvertence, inattention, indifference, inexecution, inexpedience, inexpediency, inobservance, lapse, laxity, laxness, leave undone, let go, let pass, let ride, let slide, let slip, look right through, loose ends, lose sight of, lose track of, make little of, maladministration, malfeasance, malpractice, misadministration, misconduct, misdirection, misfeasance, misgovernment, misguidance, mishandling, mismanagement, misrule, miss, neglectfulness, negligence, nod, nonaccomplishment, nonachievement, nonadherence, noncompliance, nonconformance, nonconformity, nonconsummation, nondischarging, nonexecution, nonfeasance, nonfulfillment, nonobservance, nonperformance, not care for, not get involved, not heed, not think, omission, omit, overleap, overlook, overpass, oversight, pass, pass by, pass over, pass up, passiveness, passivity, pooh-pooh, pretermit, rebuff, refuse to acknowledge, refuse to recognize, reject, remissness, rough edges, scant, scorn, shirk, shrug off, slackness, sleep, slight, slighting, slur over, spurn, take for granted, think little of, unconcern, unfulfillment, unobservance, work of Penelope, wrongdoing