as in negligence
failure to carefully think about, listen to, or watch someone or something
Many traffic accidents are the result of driver inattention. They lost several potential clients through their inattention to detail.
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Recent Examples of inattention
There may be benefits in addressing some symptoms, like inattention or emotional control, but not in impulsivity or other behaviors.
—
Heather Jones, Verywell Health, 10 Oct. 2025
Among the inattention indicators the system tracks are head nodding or tilting, yawning, change in eye blink rate, long eyelid closures (indicating something called microsleeps), and gaze drifting from the road for extended periods (what happens when people text and drive).
—IEEE Spectrum, 6 Sep. 2025
It’s characterized by patterns of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity.
—Cara Lynn Shultz, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2025
In 2021, Yesha Yadav, of Vanderbilt Law School, identified structural fragilities in the market, caused by simple cavalier inattention: Why bother scrutinizing the safest thing out there?
—Mary Childs, Harpers Magazine, 16 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for inattention
Heather Jones, Verywell Health, 10 Oct. 2025
Among the inattention indicators the system tracks are head nodding or tilting, yawning, change in eye blink rate, long eyelid closures (indicating something called microsleeps), and gaze drifting from the road for extended periods (what happens when people text and drive).
—IEEE Spectrum, 6 Sep. 2025
It’s characterized by patterns of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity.
—Cara Lynn Shultz, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2025
In 2021, Yesha Yadav, of Vanderbilt Law School, identified structural fragilities in the market, caused by simple cavalier inattention: Why bother scrutinizing the safest thing out there?
—Mary Childs, Harpers Magazine, 16 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for inattention
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inattention
Noun
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Plaintiffs in the Los Angeles bellwether and related cases have sought to get around those protections by relying on claims about corporate negligence and flawed product design, similar to those brought against opioid maker Purdue Pharma in recent years and Big Tobacco in the 1990s.—
Sonja Sharp,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Feb. 2026
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Google similarly denies any claims of negligence.—
Nancy Dillon,
Rolling Stone,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
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That inattentiveness to cleaning the floor extended to the bottom shelf of a kitchen prep table and the top shelf of a prep table next to the cookline, each shelf dotted with 100 rodent droppings.—
David J. Neal,
Miami Herald,
19 Dec. 2025
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Three moments from yet another winless day in the Windy City laid Pittsburgh's inattentiveness to detail bare for all to see.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
25 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inattention.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inattention. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
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