negligent

Intermediate ⚖️ Legal

Definition

The legal term for "you should have known better and now you're liable for it," describing someone who failed to exercise reasonable care and caused harm as a result. It's the sweet spot between accidentally harmful and intentionally malicious—you didn't mean to do it, but you definitely should have seen it coming. The foundation of countless lawsuits and the reason warning labels exist on everything including coffee.

Example Usage

The court found the company negligent for ignoring 47 safety reports before the incident, which turns out is 46 reports too many to ignore.

Source: Legal and tort law terminology

Related Terms

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