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

Government production in the New Deal was indeed government goods, a bunch of stuff the market had negligible interest in. —Brian Domitrovic, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024

Investment in children’s content remains negligible, at A$58M, down from A$81M the year before but up on the 2019/20 figure of A$51M. Meanwhile the Producer Offset contributed A$245M of investment in all drama, with $75M in financing provided for Australian theatrical features. —Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 17 Dec. 2024

Daniel Ricciardo, though currently detached from Formula 1, represents the caliber of drivers that such teams aspire to attract, albeit the real likelihood of his participation seems negligible at present. —Alex Harrington, Newsweek, 14 Dec. 2024

Album sales and track-equivalent albums comprise a negligible amount of activity. —Pamela Bustios, Billboard, 12 Dec. 2024

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