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ne·glect (nĭ-glĕkt)
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tr.v. ne·glect·ed, ne·glect·ing, ne·glects
1. To pay little or no attention to; fail to heed; disregard: neglected their warnings.
2. To fail to care for or attend to properly: neglects her appearance.
3. To fail to do or carry out, as through carelessness or oversight: neglected to return the call.
n.
1. The act or an instance of neglecting something: Your neglect of my advice will only make matters worse.
2. The state or fact of being neglected: The garden fell into neglect.
3. Habitual lack of care: The dog has been subjected to terrible neglect.
[Latin neglegere, neglēct- : neg-, not; see ne in the Appendix of Indo-European roots + legere, to choose, pick up; see leg- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
ne·glecter n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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