negligent
[adjective]
Synonyms: careless, forgetful, heedless, inattentive, neglectful, remiss, slack, slapdash, thoughtless, unthinking

---

Antonyms: attentive
Contrasted words: rigid, rigorous, strict, attentive, considerate, heedful, thoughtful, careful, exact, fussy, meticulous, punctilious, punctual, scrupulous
Related Words: heedless, inadvertent, inattentive, inconsiderate, thoughtless, unheedful, unthinking, incurious, indifferent, unconcerned, slipshod, slovenly

---

English Thesaurus: careless, clumsy, sloppy, reckless, irresponsible, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

neg‧li‧gent /ˈneɡlɪdʒənt/ adjective
[Date: 1300-1400; Language: French; Origin: Latin, present participle of negligere; ⇒ neglect¹]

1. not taking enough care over something that you are responsible for, with the result that serious mistakes are made Synonym : irresponsible Antonym : responsible
negligent 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.

2. literary a negligent manner or way of dressing is careless, but in a pleasantly relaxed way:
He gave a negligent shrug.
—negligently adverb

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

negligent
adj.
VERBS be, seem
ADV. extremely, grossly, seriously, very | wholly | criminally
PREP. in The hospital was negligent in the way it looked after this young man.
over The court found him to be negligent over the loss of £18 million by the local authority.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

negligent
adjective
BAD: There was a negligent amount of liquid in the test tube.
GOOD: There was a negligible amount of liquid in the test tube.

Usage Note:
negligent = failing to take proper care, especially in your job; careless: 'The court decided that the pilot of the crashed aircraft had been negligent.'
negligible = (of an amount) so small that it has no effect and can be ignored: 'The cost of maintaining the machine is negligible.'

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Common Errors ▲

careless not paying enough attention to what you are doing, so that you make mistakes, damage things etc:
I made a few careless mistakes.
It was careless of you to leave your purse lying about.
He started getting careless about taking his medication.
clumsy often dropping or breaking things because you move around in a careless way:
I’m so clumsy, I spilt milk all over the floor.
a clumsy child
sloppy careless and lazy in the way you do your work or in your behaviour generally:
As a student, he was brilliant but sloppy.
I will not tolerate sloppy work.
reckless especially written doing dangerous or stupid things without thinking about your own or other people’s safety:
The driver of the car was arrested for reckless driving.
His actions showed a reckless disregard for human life.
irresponsible careless in a way that might affect other people, especially when you should be taking care of them:
It’s irresponsible for parents to let their children smoke.
his irresponsible attitude to keeping animals
tactless carelessly saying something that upsets or embarrasses someone, without intending to do this:
He kept making tactless remarks about her appearance.
a tactless question
I thought it would be tactless to ask about her divorce.
casual not being careful enough about something and treating it as though it is not important:
He seems to have a very casual attitude towards his work.
She disliked the casual way in which he made decisions affecting other people’s lives.
negligent careless about something that you are responsible for, so that serious mistakes are made – used especially when someone will be officially punished for this:
The doctor was negligent in using the wrong type of needle.
They found him guilty of negligent conduct.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

guilty if someone is guilty of a crime or doing something wrong, they did it, and they should be punished for it:
She was found guilty of murder.
He was guilty of serious misconduct.
The two guilty men were ordered to pay damages to their victims.
responsible [not before noun] used when saying who should be blamed for something bad that has happened:
Police believe a local gang is responsible for the burglaries.
As manager, he is ultimately responsible for the failure of the project.
The other driver was responsible for the accident.
be to blame if someone is to blame for a bad situation, they are responsible:
The government is partly to blame for the crisis.
If anything goes wrong, it’s never him that is to blame.
culpable /ˈkʌlpəbəl/ formal responsible for something bad or illegal, so that you deserve to be blamed or punished:
The people who helped the terrorists are equally culpable for what happened on July 7th.
He pleaded guilty to culpable homicide (=being guilty of causing someone’s death).
negligent /ˈneɡlɪdʒənt/ [not usually before noun] responsible for something bad that has happened, because you did not take enough care, or you did not try to stop it from happening:
The court decided that the railway company was negligent.
be in the wrong to be responsible for an accident, mistake etc – used when deciding which person, group etc should be blamed:
The other driver was clearly in the wrong.
She always thinks it’s me who is in the wrong.
incriminating used about things which seem to show that someone is guilty of a crime:
incriminating evidence
incriminating documents
He didn’t want to say anything incriminating.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲