negligence

See also: négligence

English

Etymology

From Middle English necligence, negligence, from Old French negligence, from Latin neglegentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɛɡlɪd͡ʒəns/
• Hyphenation: neg‧li‧gence

Noun

negligence (usually uncountable, plural negligences)

1. The state of being negligent.

   negligence while driving

   • 1946 January and February, T. S. Lascelles, “A Series of False Signals”, in Railway Magazine, page 43:

     The Woodwalton signalman, Rose, who was severely censured in Captain Tyler's report, behaved with great negligence.

2. (law, singular only) The tort whereby a duty of reasonable care was breached, causing damage: any conduct short of intentional or reckless action that falls below the legal standard for preventing unreasonable injury.
3. (law, uncountable) The breach of a duty of care: the failure to exercise a standard of care that a reasonable person would have in a similar situation.

Usage notes

• The breach of a duty of care is one element of the tort of negligence, but is also called negligence; one must therefore take care to clarify what is meant.

Derived terms

• contributory negligence
• criminal negligence
• culpable negligence
• gross negligence
• negligence per se

 

Related terms

• negligent
• neglect
• endangerment

Translations

failure to exercise a standard of care (law)

• Armenian: անփութություն (hy) (anpʿutʿutʿyun)
• Bengali: গাফলাতি (gaflati)
• Bulgarian: нехайство (bg) n (nehajstvo), немарливост (bg) f (nemarlivost)
• Catalan: negligència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 過失／过失 (zh) (guòshī), 疏忽 (zh) (shūhu), 失職／失职 (zh) (shīzhí)

• Czech: nedbalost (cs) f
• Dutch: nalatigheid (nl) f, achteloosheid (nl) f
• Finnish: huolimattomuus (fi) (general carelessness), heitteillejättö (fi) (neglect of a person)
• French: négligence coupable f
• Georgian: დაუდევრობა (daudevroba)
• German: Fahrlässigkeit (de) f
• Greek: αμέλεια (el) f (améleia)

  Ancient: ἀμέλεια f (améleia)

• Interlingua: negligentia
• Italian: negligenza (it) f
• Japanese: 過失 (ja) (かしつ, kashitsu), 疎か (ja) (おろそか, orosoka)
• Korean: 과실(過失) (ko) (gwasil), 소홀(疏忽) (ko) (sohol)
• Latin: indiligentia f, neglegentia f, incūria f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: uaktsomhet (no) m or f

• Portuguese: negligência (pt) f
• Romanian: neglijență (ro), delăsare (ro)
• Russian: хала́тность (ru) f (xalátnostʹ)
• Spanish: negligencia (es) f
• Tagalog: kutalay
• Telugu: నిర్లక్ష్యం (te) (nirlakṣyaṁ)
• Tocharian B: ykorñe
• Vietnamese: tính cẩu thả (vi), sự bất cẩn

Further reading

• negligence on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle French

Noun

negligence f (uncountable)

1. negligence (state of being negligent)

Descendants

• French: négligence