Definition of benign neglect
: an attitude or policy of ignoring an often delicate or undesirable situation that one is held to be responsible for dealing with
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After six decades, the rooms were still intact, largely thanks to benign neglect.
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The need for benign neglect The more squared-away among us have been doing their Christmas shopping for a while.
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Awkwardness became a cyclical force, weaponized not through malice, but through the convenient delusions of benign neglect.
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For those who care about international women’s rights, the best-case scenario under the new administration is benign neglect.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'benign neglect.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of benign neglect
1899
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