neglect
verb · noun
Simple meaning
Fail to do something.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nuhglehktSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
nəɡˈlɛkt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Fail to do something; leave something undone
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.
noun
The act of neglecting.
The state of something that has been unused and neglected
“The house was in a terrible state of neglect.”
The state of being neglected.
Willful lack of care and attention
Lack of attention and due care
Habitual lack of care.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Fail to do something; leave something undone
Used this way, neglect is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use neglect
- “The house was in a terrible state of neglect.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Breach of a duty.
Failure of caretakers to provide adequate emotional and physical care for a child.
A tendency to be negligent and uncaring.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.