negligible

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

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

• nominal
• slight
• insignificant
• trivial
• tiny

Examples of negligible in a Sentence

A negligible amount of damage was done to the vehicle.

The price difference was negligible.

Recent Examples on the Web

Donald Green, a political scientist at Columbia University whose research has found that online political advertising has negligible effects on voters, said the firm’s claims were overblown. —David Smiley, Miami Herald, 7 Nov. 2025

Julian, with Olympia and Matty (and the usual mostly negligible legwork help from Sarah and Billy) is able to piece together the details of what actually happened at that strip club. —Noel Murray, Vulture, 7 Nov. 2025

Offering negligible protection compared to Earth’s magnetosphere, these worlds themselves do little to shield any surface dwellers from the particles and radiation emitted by the Sun. —Big Think, 6 Nov. 2025

If the Ravens make the playoffs, the difference between their late fourth-round pick and the Jets’ initial fifth-round pick would be negligible. —Jeff Zrebiec, New York Times, 5 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

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

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