How to Use benign neglect in a Sentence

benign neglect

noun
  • Providing benign neglect is the best way to have bougainvilleas in bloom each year.
    — Tom MacCubbin, orlandosentinel.com, 1 Jan. 2022
  • After six decades, the rooms were still intact, largely thanks to benign neglect.
    — Cynthia Frank, ELLE Decor, 13 Mar. 2018
  • Luckily there was plenty to do under the benign neglect of my uncles.
    — New York Times, 18 Feb. 2020
  • The need for benign neglect The more squared-away among us have been doing their Christmas shopping for a while.
    — Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, 17 Dec. 2017
  • Sometimes the best practice is benign neglect; overwatering is the silent killer.
    — Cotton Codinha, Allure, 18 Feb. 2020
  • In some cases, that can be attributed to egregious abandonment or benign neglect.
    — Justin Worland, Time, 10 Oct. 2025
  • As our weekends filled with Little League and birthday parties, the yard fell into a state of benign neglect.
    — Grace Hwang Lynch, SFChronicle.com, 31 Oct. 2019
  • Such a major move could anger Chinese Switch gamers whose imports have been treated mostly with benign neglect thus far.
    — Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 10 Apr. 2020
  • Small states have risen to power on first-mover advantages, often with the acquiescence or benign neglect of larger states.
    — Kurt M. Campbell, Foreign Affairs, 10 Apr. 2025
  • Awkwardness became a cyclical force, weaponized not through malice, but through the convenient delusions of benign neglect.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 15 Dec. 2017
  • Digital data, unlike film, cannot survive long periods of benign neglect.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 21 Feb. 2014
  • The answer isn't necessarily to go back to benign neglect of previous decades, Leahy said, but to find the balance that works for your child.
    — Elissa Strauss, CNN, 28 Aug. 2020
  • Tables sat dirty, glasses went empty and customers were doing the uncomfortable shuffle that comes with benign neglect and long intervals with no food.
    — Mike Sutter, ExpressNews.com, 17 Oct. 2019
  • But that is after years of benign neglect during which multiple companies evolved into powerful fiefdoms.
    — Zachary Karabell, Time, 9 July 2021
  • This is good opportunity to integrate more benign neglect into your parenting style.
    — Alex Vance, Parents, 25 Feb. 2026
  • For those who care about international women’s rights, the best-case scenario under the new administration is benign neglect.
    — Michelle Goldberg, Slate Magazine, 9 Feb. 2017
  • It may be interpreted as neglect Along with disconnection, benign neglect may also spurn undertones of neglect.
    — Emily Shiffer, Parents, 17 Dec. 2024
  • The couple spent years restoring the house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and had suffered from years of benign neglect.
    — Frederick N. Rasmussen, Baltimore Sun, 10 Apr. 2024
  • It’s protected only by private ownership and the extraordinary power of benign neglect.
    — Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Review of Books, 6 July 2022
  • Unlike so many houses in the Pines—subjected to ocean air and storm surges, the benign neglect of absentee owners, and the downright negligence of seasonal renters—this one proved pristine.
    — Andrew Sessa, Architectural Digest, 22 July 2024
  • At least two neighbors watched Lexi’s plight and telephoned animal control to report this benign neglect, but the complaints came to nothing; the legal threshold for abuse of animals is pretty high.
    — Gene Weingarten, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2021
  • But even this private market existed mostly with benign neglect from the state, not through the rigorous enforcement of property rights and contracts, as under capitalism.
    — Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026
  • In the end, the only real answer to this incredible, adaptable grass may be a combination of careful prevention and benign neglect, letting nature be the barrier against its own greatest survivor.
    — Ian Rose, JSTOR Daily, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Substituting benign neglect for cruelty is not a comprehensive solution.
    — Tom Saler, Journal Sentinel, 9 May 2024
  • The mayor started talking a lot during the week about how officers on his watch have been proactively engaging with people underground who appear severely mentally ill instead of leaving them in a state of supposedly benign neglect.
    — Harry Siegel, New York Daily News, 6 Apr. 2024
  • After a brief transition, Mr Macri’s central bank adopted a conventional macroeconomic framework, using interest rates to target inflation and treating the exchange rate with benign neglect.
    — The Economist, 14 Sep. 2019
  • One Billion Americans also does not accept the challenge of the cultural and social assimilability of so many new Americans, glossing over objections with a few asides and benign neglect.
    — Razib Khan, National Review, 12 Sep. 2020
  • Instead of offering benign neglect, the United States and its partners would do well to prepare for contingencies that might arise from Pakistan’s potential political and economic disarray.
    — Husain Haqqani, Foreign Affairs, 2 Aug. 2022
  • Instead, DarkSide is a private, for-profit criminal organization that operates under the benign neglect of Russian authorities.
    — Nicolás Rivero, Quartz, 10 May 2021
  • Some party officials and allies of the White House worry that the combination of benign neglect for early bundlers and the potential for voting legislation to languish could hamper fund-raising in 2022 and beyond.
    — New York Times, 4 Nov. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'benign neglect.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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