# neglect

Pronunciation: say "ni-GLEKT" /nɪˈɡlɛkt/

## Verb

1. To fail to care for or attend to something that needs attention.
   - Simple: To not take care of someone or something that needs your attention.
   - _Busy parents sometimes neglect their own needs while caring for their children._
   - _The landlord neglected the building for years, and the roof eventually collapsed._
2. To overlook doing something or fail to do it through carelessness.
   - Simple: To fail to do something because you forgot or were careless.
   - _Drivers who neglect routine maintenance risk costly breakdowns later._
   - _She neglected to mention the deadline in her email._
6. To fail to notice, or to treat without proper attention or respect; to slight.
   - Simple: To treat someone as unimportant by giving them no attention or respect.
   - _Hosts who neglect their quieter guests can seem rude._
   - _The committee neglected the smaller departments in its budget._
7. To leave a quantity out of a calculation to simplify it, when doing so does not significantly affect accuracy.
   - Simple: To leave something out of a calculation because it is too small to matter.
   - _For low speeds, we neglect air resistance in the equations of motion._
   - _The model neglects thermal expansion because the temperature change is tiny._

## Noun

3. The condition of being uncared for or left unattended over time.
   - Simple: The condition of being left without care or attention.
   - _The garden's neglect was obvious from the waist-high weeds._
   - _Decades of neglect had reduced the once-grand theater to rubble._
4. The action of failing to give proper care or attention to something.
   - Simple: The act of failing to care for someone or something.
   - _Her neglect of the accounts led to a string of serious errors._
   - _The inquiry blamed the disaster on the company's neglect of maintenance schedules._
5. A habitual or ongoing lack of care toward someone or something.
   - Simple: A regular failure to give proper care or attention.
   - _The patient had suffered years of neglect in the understaffed home._
   - _Chronic neglect of the equipment led to frequent and dangerous failures._

## Origin

From Middle English neclect, from Latin neglēctus, the perfect passive participle of neglegō ('make light of, disregard, not pick up'). This was a variant of neclegō, formed from nec ('not') plus legō ('pick up, select'). It has been recorded since about 1460, and as a noun since 1588.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/neglect (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).