From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishnegligentneg‧li‧gent /ˈneɡlɪdʒənt/ adjective 1 CARELESSnot taking enough care over something that you are responsible for, with the result that serious mistakes are made SYN irresponsible OPP responsiblenegligent in (doing) something The report stated that Dr Brady had been negligent in not giving the patient a full examination. Mr Brown was found guilty of negligent driving.► see thesaurus at careless, guilty2 literaryCARELESSRELAXED a negligent manner or way of dressing is careless, but in a pleasantly relaxed way He gave a negligent shrug. —negligently adverb
Examples from the Corpus
negligent• Do not, I repeat, do not be negligent.• Problems may arise where the foreman is bribed or negligent and excessive hours are claimed by the sub-contractor.• He noted that the overwhelming bulk of those cases involve negligent conduct.• The bartender set Tad's drink down with a negligent, easy grace.• If he would have received £10,000 but was found to be 25% contributorily negligent, his damages will be £7,500.• However, the degree of severity of the indictment, which could range from negligent homicide to second-degree murder, remains unclear.• Alternatively, the employer could be vicariously liable if Arthur was negligent in respect of his statement to Bert.• The defendants were held to have been negligent in selling the child the petrol but the child was not contributorily negligent.• Kitty was characterized as a negligent mother.negligent in (doing) something• It is not suggested that it is negligent in any way.• The defence of necessity succeeded in the trespass action as the police had not been negligent in creating the emergency.• It is possible that the company writing the computer program was negligent in its testing of the program.• The teacher therefore was negligent in leaving the athletic: field unsupervised.• Awife whose solicitors have been negligent in negotiating a financial settlement in her divorce proceedings is entitled to damages against the solicitors.• The defendants were held to have been negligent in selling the child the petrol but the child was not contributorily negligent.• Finally, A could attempt to prove that C was contributorily negligent in that his fault was a cause of his injuries.• Counsel further contended that on the affidavit evidence the debtor has an arguable claim that the solicitors were negligent in two respects.From Longman Business Dictionarynegligentneg‧li‧gent /ˈneglɪdʒənt/ adjectiveLAW not taking enough care over something that you are responsible forThe products were defective due to the manufacturer’s negligent workmanship.negligent inThe airline was negligent in allowing a known terrorist to board one of its jets in Egypt.Origin negligent (1300-1400) French Latin, present participle of negligere; → NEGLECT1 