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

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

• chicken
• de minimis
• footling
• inconsequential
• inconsiderable
• insignificant
• measly
• Mickey Mouse
• minute
• niggling
• no-account
• nominal
• paltry
• peanut
• petty
• picayune
• piddling
• piddly
• piffling
• pimping
• slight
• trifling
• trivial

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

Economist Piotr Arak said that while the direct impact of the tariffs on the Polish economy will be negligible due to limited direct trade with the U.S., indirect effects will be significant. —Lidia Kurasinska, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025

After testing the affected liquid egg products, scientists at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service determined that the risk of negative health effects is negligible. —Emily Kay Votruba, EverydayHealth.com, 1 Apr. 2025

In contrast, only six teams have seen a decline at the box office during this time frame, with nearly all of the dips being negligible. —Hailey Salvian, New York Times, 27 Mar. 2025

The bulk of the album’s first week sum stems from the streaming sector, representing 27 million official on-demand streams of the set’s tracks, with a negligible amount of album sales and track-equivalent activity. —Pamela Bustios, Billboard, 26 Mar. 2025

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