as in careless
failing to give proper care and attention
he's certainly not a neglectful father as he takes very good care of his children
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Recent Examples of neglectful
There’s an absent father and a clueless, neglectful mother but the five Gilbert children — Lydia, Hugo, Annabel, Jeremy and Rosalind — are essentially raising themselves in an English country house of secret passages and worrying infestations.
—
Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 23 Jan. 2026
There’s an absent father and a clueless, neglectful mother but the five Gilbert children — Lydia, Hugo, Annabel, Jeremy and Rosalind — are essentially raising themselves in an English country house of secret passages and worrying infestations.
—Chris Hewitt, Boston Herald, 22 Jan. 2026
Stroheim himself plays the villain, one Lieutenant Eric von Steuben, who meets a vacationing American woman at an Alpine resort and tries to seduce her under the nose of her neglectful husband.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2026
The lawsuit represents the latest in a string of legal filings alleging deeply problematic management and neglectful care at the jail, one of the nation’s largest and the location of several inmate deaths over the past decade.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for neglectful
Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 23 Jan. 2026
There’s an absent father and a clueless, neglectful mother but the five Gilbert children — Lydia, Hugo, Annabel, Jeremy and Rosalind — are essentially raising themselves in an English country house of secret passages and worrying infestations.
—Chris Hewitt, Boston Herald, 22 Jan. 2026
Stroheim himself plays the villain, one Lieutenant Eric von Steuben, who meets a vacationing American woman at an Alpine resort and tries to seduce her under the nose of her neglectful husband.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2026
The lawsuit represents the latest in a string of legal filings alleging deeply problematic management and neglectful care at the jail, one of the nation’s largest and the location of several inmate deaths over the past decade.
—Jakob Rodgers, Mercury News, 14 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for neglectful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for neglectful
Adjective
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Longtime fans may recall that on Thanksgiving Night 2009, Woods’ Cadillac Escalade collided with a fire hydrant, tree and several bushes near his Central Florida home, and he was ticketed with careless driving.—
Devoun Cetoute,
Miami Herald,
27 Mar. 2026
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She was arrested in a bankruptcy case in 2013, arrested for careless driving in 2021 and arrested again in 2023 on suspicion of domestic violence and battery.—
Michael Saponara,
Billboard,
25 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Black, white, colorful, graphic—the perfect baggy tee will hold your hand through low-key days at the office, weekends in the park, and your laziest bed-rot days.—
Kelsey Stiegman,
Glamour,
27 Mar. 2026
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The point is to get away from lazy (but practical) System 1 thinking and apply your brain’s full power to seeing through any fraud or deception.—
Neil J. Rubenking,
PC Magazine,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Claims against the bank of negligent failure to prevent physical harm and reasonable care as a banking institution, and aiding and abetting trafficking violations in the initial complaint, were dismissed by Rakoff in mid-February.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
28 Mar. 2026
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The lawsuit also alleged that Goodenbour and USF were negligent, meaning the university and the coaching staff had a duty to care for the twins and had failed to do so.—
Julia Haney,
NPR,
28 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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When Ken Fulk and Kurt Wootton purchased what would become Durham Ranch—named after one of their dogs—the California wine country property was in disrepair, with a derelict 1940s ranch house and a handful of rickety outbuildings.—
Mark David,
Robb Report,
17 Mar. 2026
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This stretch of the park, an object of fascination for Urbano, contains an array of a hundred or so different models of public gaslights, now obsolete and semi-derelict.—
Javier Montes,
Artforum,
1 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Neglectful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/neglectful. Accessed 2 Apr. 2026.
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