neglect

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the state of something that has been unused and neglected

   the house was in a terrible state of neglect

2. 2
   verb

   fail to attend to

   They neglected to pay for their internet and it was shut off.

3. 3
   verb

   To fail to care for or attend to something.

   to neglect duty or business;  to neglect to pay debts

4. 4
   verb

   To omit to notice; to forbear to treat with attention or respect; to slight.

   to neglect strangers

5. 5
   verb

   To fail to do or carry out something due to oversight or carelessness.

   A friend of mine who runs an intellectual magazine was grousing about his movie critic, complaining that though the fellow had liked The Godfather (page 58), he had neglected to label it clearly as a masterpiece.

6. 6
   verb

   To ignore for the sake of simplifying calculations without significantly affecting accuracy.

   We can neglect this term, as it approaches zero in the limit anyway.

7. 7
   noun

   Habitual lack of care.

   Fifteen participants argued that the neglect of discourse on relationships had major implications for the ability of adolescents to acquire courtship skills and maintain relationships. This neglect means that the students acquire knowledge and skills through the media and by observing and imitating others in their immediate environment.

8. 8
   noun

   willful lack of care and attention

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English neglect, neclect, derived from Latin neglēctus, perfect passive participle of neglegō (“to make light of, disregard, not to pick up”), itself from nec (“not”) + legō (“to pick up, select”). The noun is from neglēctus (“neglect”). First attested in 1460, the noun in 1588.