negligence

/ˈnɛglədʒəns/

/ˈnɛglɪdʒɪnts/

Other forms: negligences

When you are careless or reckless and you don’t take care of a person, object or situation like you ought to, you are practicing negligence. "Her negligence of the house resulted in its being condemned by the city."

The noun negligence comes from a Latin word that means “carelessness.” Negligence can come in many forms: negligence of one's children can lead to foster care, negligence while driving can cause fatal accidents, negligence of work can lead to the loss of a job, and negligence of nutrition can cause health problems. There is culpability in negligence. Negligence is when one neglects to do things that should be done, and there are usually consequences.

Definitions of negligence

1. noun

   failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances
   synonyms: carelessness, neglect, nonperformance

   types:

   dereliction

   willful negligence

   comparative negligence

   (law) negligence allocated between the plaintiff and the defendant with a corresponding reduction in damages paid to the plaintiff

   concurrent negligence

   (law) negligence of two of more persons acting independently; the plaintiff may sue both together or separately

   contributory negligence

   (law) behavior by the plaintiff that contributes to the harm resulting from the defendant's negligence

   criminal negligence, culpable negligence

   (law) recklessly acting without reasonable caution and putting another person at risk of injury or death (or failing to do something with the same consequences)

   neglect of duty

   (law) breach of a duty

   dodging, escape, evasion

   nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do

   nonfeasance

   a failure to act when under an obligation to do so; a refusal (without sufficient excuse) to do that which it is your legal duty to do

   escape mechanism

   a form of behavior that evades unpleasant realities

   malingering, skulking

   evading duty or work by pretending to be incapacitated

   goldbricking, goofing off, shirking, slacking, soldiering

   the evasion of work or duty

   circumvention

   the act of evading by going around

   type of:

   nonaccomplishment, nonachievement

   an act that does not achieve its intended goal
2. noun

   the trait of neglecting responsibilities and lacking concern
   synonyms: neglect, neglectfulness

   types:

   delinquency, dereliction, willful neglect

   a tendency to be negligent and uncaring

   laxity, laxness, remissness, slackness

   an absence of rigor or strictness

   type of:

   carelessness, sloppiness

   the quality of not being careful or taking pains