negligible

adjective neg·li·gi·ble \ ˈne-gli-jə-bəl \

Definition of negligible

: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

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negligibility

play \ˌne-gli-jə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ noun

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negligibly

play \ˈne-gli-jə-blē\ adverb

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Examples of negligible in a Sentence

A negligible amount of damage was done to the vehicle.
The price difference was negligible.

Recent Examples of negligible from the Web

The study also found that paying for their health care would only amount to about $8 million a year, and the effect their presence would have on military readiness would be negligible.

— madeleine aggeler, The Cut, "Defense Secretary: Transgender Troops Can Continue to Serve (for Now)," 30 Aug. 2017
Researchers found that paying for their health care needs would amount to about $8 million per year and their effect on readiness would be negligible.

— tom vanden brook, The Courier-Journal, "Mattis freezes transgender policy; allows troops to continue serving, pending study," 29 Aug. 2017
His logic has no basis in reality, though, because the Neo-Nazis and KKK are a negligible amount of people despite their vocal nature.

— karly matthews, Seventeen, "6 Conservative Students Slam Trump's Reaction to White Supremacists in Charlottesville," 17 Aug. 2017
The results showed that the costs would be negligible both in terms of medical requirements and unit cohesion.

— ellen mcgirt, Fortune, "Donald Trump to Transgender Service Members: Get Out," 26 July 2017
Excessive Debt For Swedish banks, the extra cost is likely to be negligible because holdings of government bonds are mostly limited to those issued in the Nordic region.

— hanna hoikkala, Bloomberg.com, "Sweden's Banks Are Now Adding Risk Weights to Government Bonds," 16 July 2017
So, despite his years of service and undoubted, if irascible competence, his influence on foreign policy is, in fact, negligible.

— mark galeotti, The Atlantic, "What Exactly are 'Kremlin Ties'?," 12 July 2017
Two others in the race had negligible fundraising: Republican Shane Mobley reported $500 in his bank account.

— greg bluestein, ajc, "Georgia 2018: An early look at how down-ticket races are shaping up," 11 July 2017
More recently, in discussing the five permits under consideration, the NMFS has argued that their effects on marine mammals would be negligible.

— ed yong, The Atlantic, "The Bipartisan Fight for Quieter Oceans," 5 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'negligible.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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.