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

In less populous counties, by contrast, job and wage spillovers were negligible. — Daniel Yue, The Conversation, 10 July 2026

Many Americans have long accepted that a small fraction of their tax dollars should help keep vulnerable people alive overseas, particularly when the cost to them is negligible. — W. Gyude Moore, semafor.com, 2 July 2026

Monterrey, at around 500 metres (1,750 feet), sits low enough that altitude effects are likely negligible. — Alan McCall, New York Times, 1 July 2026

She is classified at the BOP’s lowest institutional risk levels and her PATTERN Score, a measure of risk for violence or reoffending, is negligible. — Walter Pavlo, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026

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