neglect

noun

The act of neglecting.

The state of being neglected.

Habitual lack of care.

verb

(transitive) To fail to care for or attend to something.

(transitive) To fail to do or carry out something due to oversight or carelessness.

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

(transitive, mathematics) To ignore for the sake of simplifying calculations without significantly affecting accuracy.

Roots

necneg- · Latin · not lego-lect · Latin · gather, choose

Words related to neglect

disusen neglectfuladj negligentadj neglectfullyadv inattentivenessn remissadj ignorerv inadvertencyn abandonmentn misprisionn maltreatmentn abusen mistreatmentn inattentiveadj disconsider misapplicationn carelessadj

Synonyms & related words for neglect

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of neglect — including pretermit, neglectfulness, disregard, negligence, carelessness, ignore. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to neglect

Explore words related to neglect — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include disuse, neglectful, negligent, neglectfully, inattentiveness, remiss, ignorer, inadvertency. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for neglect

Common synonyms for neglect include pretermit, neglectfulness, disregard, negligence, carelessness, ignore, overlook, nonperformance — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does neglect come from?

The word neglect breaks down into 2 roots of Latin origin: neg-, from Latin nec (“not”); and -lect, from Latin lego (“gather, choose”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.