disregard

1 of 2

verb

dis·​re·​gard ˌdis-ri-ˈgärd How to pronounce disregard (audio)
disregarded; disregarding; disregards

transitive verb

: to pay no attention to : treat as unworthy of regard or notice
Please disregard what I said in my last email.
He disregarded her advice.

disregard

2 of 2

noun

: the act of treating someone or something as unworthy of regard or notice : the state of being disregarded (see disregard entry 1) : neglect
showed a complete disregard for the rules
disregardful adjective
Choose the Right Synonym for disregard

neglect, disregard, ignore, overlook, slight, forget mean to pass over without giving due attention.

neglect implies giving insufficient attention to something that merits one's attention.

habitually neglected his studies

disregard suggests voluntary inattention.

disregarded the wishes of his family

ignore implies a failure to regard something obvious.

ignored the snide remark

overlook suggests disregarding or ignoring through haste or lack of care.

in my rush I overlooked a key example

slight implies contemptuous or disdainful disregarding or omitting.

slighted several major authors in her survey

forget may suggest either a willful ignoring or a failure to impress something on one's mind.

forget what others say

Example Sentences

Verb Please disregard what I said before. He disregarded his father's advice and left school. Some students completely disregard the rules of the school. Noun They treated the rules with complete disregard. revelers firing guns in the air with complete disregard for the possible consequences
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
But PPIs can free you to disregard most or all of that. Sean O'neal, Men's Health, 27 Feb. 2023 Mathematicians usually disregard this symmetry when trying to show that knots are not slice. Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 2 Feb. 2023 Those remarks disregard the role women had during much of the 20th century in Afghanistan, helping draft the country’s constitution, winning the right to vote and running businesses. Eltaf Najafizada, Bloomberg.com, 20 Dec. 2022 The cardinal rule of adapting a book into a film is: Don’t disregard the source material. Lesley Paterson, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2023 Reichl’s costumes were dual-purposed, mainly to conceal her identity as restaurant critic at the Times, but also to provide insight on how her appearance influenced the way restaurant staffers would treat — or disregard her. Lyndsay C. Green, Detroit Free Press, 18 Dec. 2022 While mythical monsters acted as warnings to women not to transgress society’s restrictive expectations of them as wives and mothers, some women still chose to bend the rules to their own advantage — or disregard them altogether. Rachel Ashcroft, Longreads, 17 Sep. 2022 As part of the scheme, former vice president Mike Pence would disregard the real electoral votes and instead submit the fake electoral votes when Congress met to confirm Joe Biden’s electoral victory on Jan. 6, the report said. Amanda Kaufman, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Dec. 2022 Plenty will still make the right choices, and those who want salt, sugar and saturated fat will disregard labeling guidelines. WSJ, 11 Sep. 2022
Noun
On March 25, the owners' disregard for workplace safety came to a head when a fire broke out and quickly spread across all three floors of the factory, killing 146 of the approximately 500 workers in a matter of minutes. Christine Rousselle, Fox News, 25 Mar. 2023 The belief that fatness in itself is neither ugly nor alarming is sometimes misinterpreted, ingenuously or otherwise, as a complete disregard for the connection between health and weight gain. Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023 Nature also plays a big part noting both its ability to create both unrivaled structures, as well as its seemingly absolute disregard for standard organization with its organic forms. Lauren Mowery, Forbes, 8 Mar. 2023 Prosecutors have acknowledged that the shooting was an accident, but allege that both Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed displayed a willful disregard for the safety of others. Gene Maddaus, Variety, 24 Feb. 2023 One example of Spideroak's bewildering disregard for UI conventions—menus don't go in the bottom right of a dialog, folks. Jim Salter, Ars Technica, 6 Feb. 2023 When former president Donald Trump made his debut in Davos, many other political figures spoke up about the perils inherent in his brand of nationalism and his willful disregard for the scientific consensus around a warming planet. Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2023 And some viewers will surely be turned off by the network’s craven disregard for the truth. David Zurawik, CNN, 2 Mar. 2023 Observers described a display of violence and disregard for legal protections that punctuated a tense week already marked by images of police brutality. Daniel Wu, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'disregard.' 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

Verb

1613, in the meaning defined above

Noun

1659, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of disregard was in 1613

Dictionary Entries Near disregard

Cite this Entry

“Disregard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disregard. Accessed 31 Mar. 2023.

Kids Definition

disregard

1 of 2 verb
dis·​re·​gard ˌdis-ri-ˈgärd How to pronounce disregard (audio)
: to pay no attention to : treat as unworthy of regard or notice

disregard

2 of 2 noun
: the act of disregarding : the state of being disregarded
disregardful adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on disregard

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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