benign neglect
noun
: an attitude or policy of ignoring an often delicate or undesirable situation that one is held to be responsible for dealing with
Examples of benign neglect in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
There is no such thing as benign neglect of the U.S. border.
—
Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 3 Mar. 2023
It’s protected only by private ownership and the extraordinary power of benign neglect.
—Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Review of Books, 6 July 2022
Companies took an approach of benign neglect to monitoring employee performance during Covid-19—such as dropping formal evaluations and goal-setting conversations.
—Francesca Fontana, WSJ, 18 Sep. 2022
By the time Joe Biden arrived in the Oval Office, the West’s attitude toward Ukraine was benign neglect.
—Michael Kimmage, The New Republic, 7 Feb. 2022
Providing benign neglect is the best way to have bougainvilleas in bloom each year.
—Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 1 Jan. 2022
But that’s just fine with Ms. Piesse, who deems this benign neglect of heritage very much in line with the Shropshire spirit.
—Christoph Irmscher, WSJ, 20 Dec. 2021
At least two neighbors watched Lexi’s plight and telephoned animal control to report this benign neglect, but the complaints came to nothing; the legal threshold for abuse of animals is pretty high.
—Gene Weingarten, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2021
Some party officials and allies of the White House worry that the combination of benign neglect for early bundlers and the potential for voting legislation to languish could hamper fund-raising in 2022 and beyond.
—New York Times, 4 Nov. 2021
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Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 3 Mar. 2023
It’s protected only by private ownership and the extraordinary power of benign neglect.
—Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Review of Books, 6 July 2022
Companies took an approach of benign neglect to monitoring employee performance during Covid-19—such as dropping formal evaluations and goal-setting conversations.
—Francesca Fontana, WSJ, 18 Sep. 2022
By the time Joe Biden arrived in the Oval Office, the West’s attitude toward Ukraine was benign neglect.
—Michael Kimmage, The New Republic, 7 Feb. 2022
Providing benign neglect is the best way to have bougainvilleas in bloom each year.
—Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 1 Jan. 2022
But that’s just fine with Ms. Piesse, who deems this benign neglect of heritage very much in line with the Shropshire spirit.
—Christoph Irmscher, WSJ, 20 Dec. 2021
At least two neighbors watched Lexi’s plight and telephoned animal control to report this benign neglect, but the complaints came to nothing; the legal threshold for abuse of animals is pretty high.
—Gene Weingarten, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2021
Some party officials and allies of the White House worry that the combination of benign neglect for early bundlers and the potential for voting legislation to languish could hamper fund-raising in 2022 and beyond.
—New York Times, 4 Nov. 2021
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'benign neglect.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1899, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near benign neglect
Cite this Entry
“Benign neglect.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benign%20neglect. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.
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