To neglect something means to fail to take proper care of it or give it the attention it needs. When you neglect your homework, you ignore it or forget about it completely. When someone neglects a houseplant, they forget to water it until it wilts. When a student neglects their responsibilities on a group project, their teammates have to pick up the slack.

Neglect isn't the same as making one mistake or forgetting something once. It describes a pattern of not paying attention or not caring for something over time. A scraped knee that gets cleaned and bandaged isn't neglected, but one that's left dirty for days without treatment is. A friendship can suffer from neglect when you stop calling or spending time with someone, even though you still like them.

The word can also be a noun. Child neglect is a serious problem where adults fail to provide children with basic needs like food, shelter, or supervision. Neglect of duty means someone isn't doing their job properly. When a building falls into neglect, no one maintains it, so it becomes run-down.

People may neglect things not because they're mean, but because they're distracted, overwhelmed, or don't realize how important something is. But whether intentional or not, neglect causes real harm. The things we neglect, whether pets, friendships, or our own health, eventually suffer from that lack of attention.