omission

noun

omis·​sion ō-ˈmi-shən 

ə-

1

a

: something neglected or left undone

There are a few omissions in the list.

b

: apathy toward or neglect of duty

The police officer was reprimanded for the omission of his duty to inform the suspect of his rights.

2

: the act of omitting : the state of being omitted

Her omission from the team was surprising.

Synonyms

• deletion
• elision

Examples of omission in a Sentence

There are a few omissions in the list.

the disk contains a selection of deleted scenes, and a couple of the omissions greatly add to the intelligibility of the movie's plot

Recent Examples on the Web

Yet no former secretary of state has been more vehemently criticized, most notably for sins of omission and commission in countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Chile and East Timor. —Literary Hub, 18 June 2025

His omission has confounded the Mets and many others around baseball. —Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News, 18 June 2025

This omission seems surprising, given the navel’s centrality in his scheme. —Steven Strogatz, New York Times, 16 June 2025

Some of these instances might not need the ability to run all those huge legacy Windows applications, for example, saving system resources by omission. —Michael Muchmore, PC Magazine, 13 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English omissioun, from Anglo-French omission, from Late Latin omission-, omissio, from Latin omittere

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for omission

• addition
• admission
• ambition
• attrition
• audition
• clinician
• cognition
• coition
• commission
• condition
• contrition
• dentition

Kids Definition

omission

noun

omis·​sion ō-ˈmish-ən 

ə-

1

: something omitted

2

: the act of omitting : the state of being omitted

Legal Definition

omission

noun

omis·​sion ō-ˈmi-shən 

1

: something neglected, left out, or left undone

2

: the act, fact, or state of leaving something out or failing to do something especially that is required by duty, procedure, or law

liable for a criminal act or omission