Standard Lemma guide

negligible

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈnɛɡlɪd͡ʒɪbəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: N EH1 G L AH0 JH AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: N EH1 G L IH0 JH AH0 B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Able to be neglected, ignored or excluded from consideration; too small or unimportant to be of concern.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • We found errors, but their effects were negligible.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

so small as to be meaningless; insignificant

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the effect was negligible

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective satellite

Meaning 3

not worth considering

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he considered the prize too paltry for the lives it must cost
  • piffling efforts
  • a trifling matter

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: paltry, trifling

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From negligence/negligent + -ible, as if from New Latin *negligibilis, from Latin neglegō (“to neglect”) + -ibilis (“-ible”).

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bengali: নগণ্য (nogonno) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Catalan: negligible — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Chinese Mandarin: 可忽视的 (kě hūshì de) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Chinese Mandarin: 微不足道 (wēibùzúdào) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Czech: zanedbatelný — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Danish: ubetydelig — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Dutch: verwaarloosbaar — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Esperanto: neglektinda — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Finnish: merkityksetön — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Finnish: vähäpätöinen — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Finnish: mitätön — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Finnish: yhdentekevä — able to be ignored or excluded
  • French: négligeable — able to be ignored or excluded
  • French: insignifiant — able to be ignored or excluded
  • German: vernachlässigbar — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Greek: αμελητέος (amelitéos) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Hindi: तुच्छ (tucch) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Hungarian: elhanyagolható — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Italian: insignificante — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Italian: trascurabile — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Japanese: 些細 (sasai) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Japanese: つまらない (tsumaranai) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Japanese: 取るに足らない (toru ni taranai) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Macedonian: занемарлив (zanemarliv) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Polish: nieistotny — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Portuguese: insignificante — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Portuguese: negligenciável — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Portuguese: desprezável — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Romanian: neglijabil — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Romanian: neînsemnat — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Romanian: insignifiant — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Russian: пренебрежи́мый (prenebrežímyj) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Sanskrit: नगण्य (nagaṇya) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Serbo-Croatian: занемарљив — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Spanish: insignificante — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Spanish: desdeñable — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Spanish: negligible — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Spanish: despreciable — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Swedish: försumbar — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Thai: เล็กน้อย (lék-nɔ́ɔi) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Thai: ไม่สําคัญ (mâi-sǎm-kan) — able to be ignored or excluded
  • Thai: ขี้ปะติ๋ว (kîi-bpà-dtǐu) — able to be ignored or excluded
Real reading context

negligible in complete knowledge articles