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

Because zero-power critical experiments produce negligible heat and only trace amounts of radioactive fission products, the reactor fuel remains largely unchanged and can be reused for additional testing. — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 31 July 2026

Given the year already on record, remote is no longer the same thing as negligible. — Frank Ahrens, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026

Digital channels that generated negligible sales before COVID hit 30% of total sales last fiscal year and account for half of all sales in some regions, according to Ingka Group. — Claire Zillman, Fortune, 30 July 2026

Unless the bread is seed-heavy, the nutritional difference may be negligible. — Randi Gollin, Martha Stewart, 26 July 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