negligent
adjective
Edith Hamilton
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To be negligent is to be neglectful. Negligence is an important legal concept; it's usually defined as the failure to use the care that a normally careful person would in a given situation. Negligence is a common claim in lawsuits regarding medical malpractice, auto accidents, and workplace injuries. But you can also be negligent about answering your email, or negligent in the way you dress. (The original garment called a negligee was worn by women who had neglected to get fully dressed.) The legal meanings of negligent and negligence, however, tend to be the ones we most often encounter nowadays.
Synonyms
Examples of negligent in a Sentence
Nadine El-Bawab, ABC News, 18 Apr. 2024
The group said Detroit seniors are facing poor living conditions in apartment complexes throughout the city and called for officials, property owners and community members to provide safe housing and hold negligent landlords accountable.
—Nushrat Rahman, Detroit Free Press, 16 Apr. 2024
At The Times, Christensen worked both solo and with other reporters to expose abuses in the hospice industry, the failure of the Medical Board of California to discipline negligent doctors and the lead poisoning spread by a battery recycling plant.
—Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times, 16 Apr. 2024
He was charged with a misdemeanor for negligent use of a deadly weapon.
—Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 Apr. 2024
Halls took a plea deal in 2023 for his role in the shooting, pleading no contest to one count of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
—Christina Maxouris, CNN, 15 Apr. 2024
Halls pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon and was handed a six-month unsupervised probation order.
—Patrick Smith, NBC News, 9 Apr. 2024
Koss originally pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of gross negligent operation with death resulting.
—CBS News, 9 Mar. 2024
The trio worked on the tracks for months before finally working on the raging bridge, a big Nineties pop moment from Roan that predicts the regret her negligent partner will face one day.
—Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone, 5 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'negligent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near negligent
Cite this Entry
“Negligent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/negligent. Accessed 25 Apr. 2024.
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negligent
adjective
Legal Definition
negligent
adjective
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