neglect

English

Etymology

From Middle English neclect, 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 a. 1460, 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)

1. (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, [Act III, scene iv]:

     I hope
     My absence doth neglect no great designs.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     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.

2. (transitive) To omit to notice; to forbear to treat with attention or respect; to slight.

   to neglect strangers

3. (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.

4. (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

• (antonym(s) of “fail to care for”): care, mind, reck; see also Thesaurus:care
• (antonym(s) of “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

• Albanian: mbasdor
• 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)

• Hungarian: elhanyagol (hu)
• 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), descurar (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 (ʔahmala)
• 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 (da)
• Dutch: verwaarlozen (nl), negeren (nl), uit het oog verliezen, buiten beschouwing laten, veronachtzamen (nl)
• 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 Greek: περιοράω (perioráō)

  Ancient: ἀμελέω (ameléō)

• Hungarian: elhanyagol (hu)
• 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), desatender (es), negligir (es)
• Swedish: försumma (sv)
• Tagalog: pabayaan
• Tocharian B: yäk-
• Vietnamese: bỏ lơ, bỏ mặc

failure due to carelessness

• Czech: zanedbat (cs)
• Danish: forsømme (da), 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)
• Woiwurrung: ^{(please verify)} to-goom-boun

Noun

neglect (countable and uncountable, plural neglects)

1. The act of neglecting.
2. The state of being neglected.
3. Habitual lack of care.

Synonyms

• carelessness
• negligence

Antonyms

• consideration
• notice
• regard

Derived terms

• child neglect
• hemispatial neglect

Translations

act of neglecting

• Arabic: إِهْمَال m (ʔihmāl)
• Bhojpuri: उपेक्षा (upēkṣā)
• 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)
• Hindi: उपेक्षा (hi) (upekṣā)
• 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)