negligible

1 of 2

adjective

neg·​li·​gi·​ble ˈne-gli-jə-bəl 

: so small or unimportant or of so little consequence as to warrant little or no attention : trifling

a negligible error

last year sales were negligible

a negligible risk

a negligible effect

… was suffering terribly from the bad reviews and negligible sales of his first book …

—E. L. Doctorow

negligibility

ˌne-gli-jə-ˈbi-lə-tē 

noun

negligibly

ˈne-gli-jə-blē 

adverb

negligibility

2 of 2

noun

neg·​li·​gi·​bil·​i·​ty ˌneglə̇jəˈbilətē 

-lēj-, 

-ətē, 

-i

plural -es

: the quality or state of being negligible

differences between the two positions dwindle to negligibility

—Lucius Garvin

Did you know?

Negligible comes from the same Latin verb as neglect, so something negligible is literally "neglectable". If an accident results in negligible damage to your car, you should be thankful. If two years of intense focus on testing in the classroom results in a negligible improvement in student test scores, it's probably time to try something new.

Synonyms of negligible

Adjective

• nominal
• slight
• insignificant
• trivial
• tiny

Examples of negligible in a Sentence

Adjective

A negligible amount of damage was done to the vehicle.

The price difference was negligible.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Prior to the start of hostilities, the war-risk premium was negligible. — George Calhoun, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026

Calling the agreement into question continuously could have far from negligible consequences indeed, given that Mexico and Canada have individually—and even more so collectively—surpassed China as America’s biggest trading partners. — Kate Nishimura, Footwear News, 17 June 2026

The paper documents that annual water trading is negligible — usually less than 1% of total use even in severe droughts. — David Sathuluri, Mercury News, 16 June 2026

Goldman Sachs looked at every tournament since 1982 and found negligible long-term impact, in part because most fans watch at home. — Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 11 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Latinization of French négligeable, from négliger "to disregard, neglect" (going back to Middle French negliger, borrowed from Latin neglegere, neclegere "to disregard, do nothing about") + -able -able — more at neglect entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

1829, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

negligible

adjective

neg·​li·​gi·​ble ˈneg-li-jə-bəl 

: so small or unimportant as to deserve little or no attention

a negligible error

negligibly

-blē 

adverb