- negligence
- negligence, neglect are not always clearly distinguished in use, even though the lines between them may be drawn with some clearness.Negligence stresses the quality or fact of being negligent or careless either as shown in a lack of care in the performance of a task, a duty, or a piece of work or in the operation or handling of a dangerous machine or mechanism which requires effort or close attention{
the amazing negligence of some housekeeper
}{an act of criminal negligence
}{no one has done more through negligence to corrupt the language— Byron
}{most of these are involved in accidents through their own negligence— Theodore Sturgeon
}or as shown in a temperamental or assumed indifference to small niceties (as in dress, manners, or style) that gives an impression of casualness, artlessness, or lack of artificiality{spoke with conviction, yet with a gentlemanly lightness, almost a negligence, as though to cancel any tone of dogmatism ... in his words— Wouk
}{his companion wore well-cut tweeds with a sort of aggressive negligence, as though he hated them—/. A. R. Wylie
}Neglect, on the other hand, applies either to the act or fact of leaving undone or carelessly, inadequately, or imperfectly done something which it is one's business or duty to do{convicted of neglect of duty
}{we made a nice tidy cleanup .... If I hadn't done it I ought either to have been shot for neglect or dismissed for incapacity— H. G. Wells
}{in dealing with the infant . . . there is need of a delicate balance between neglect and indulgence— Russell
}or to the state or fact of being neglected, slighted, ignored, or forgotten{rescue my poor remains from vile neglect— Prior
}{a . . . motive for reading it . . . [that] ensured poetry against neglect— Day Lewis
}{destined either to constantly inadequate execution or to complete neglect— Virgil Thomson
}For these reasons the phrase "the negligence of a person" always refers to a quality of character of the person as an agent or to its outward manifestation (as in an act, a piece of work, or an accident) while "the neglect of a person" refers to the act of another who neglects, slights, ignores, or forgets the person, thereby making the latter his victim.Analogous words: laxness, slackness, remissness (see corresponding adjectives at NEGLIGENT): indifference, unconcernedness or unconcern, incuriousness (see corresponding adjectives at INDIFFERENT)Antonyms: attention: solicitude
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
