delinquent
UK/dɪˈlɪŋkwənt/
delinquent adjective: late or failing to pay a debt or other financial obligation, like a mortgage or loan.
Adjective
delinquent (comparative more delinquent, superlative most delinquent)
- Late or failing to pay a debt or other financial obligation, like a mortgage or loan.
- Fred is delinquent in making his car payment.
- Synonyms:
- defaulting
- Of a payment or other financial obligation: late or otherwise unfulfilled.
- The company made a new effort to collect delinquent payments.
- The station's financial difficulties came to a head last week when the Internal Revenue Service had its bank accounts frozen as a result of delinquent taxes.1981 February 7, David Morris, “Money Troubles May Close WCAS”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 28, page 3
- Failing in or neglectful of a duty or obligation; guilty of a misdeed or offense
Noun
delinquent (plural delinquents)
- One who disobeys or breaks rules or laws, or who acts against another's wishes.
- She had the consolation of knowing that any offence given to her dignity could be avenged on the delinquent who caused it, an act of justice which could not fail to be consolatory, since every one of her daughters had at times stood in stead of "guid King James's whipping-boy," when circumstances...1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 269
- A person who has not paid their debts.
- A royalist in the First English Civil War (1642-1646).
delinquent meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
delinquent in Tamil
- கடமை தவறிய, குற்ற மிழைத்த, கடமை தவறியவர், குற்றவாளி, குற்றம் இழைத்தவர், நெறிபிறழ்ந்தோன்
delinquent in Urdu
- کم عقل, مجرم
delinquent in Malayalam
- lawbreaking, lawless, criminal
- അപരാധിയായ, കുറ്റക്കാരനായ, നിയമവിധേയമല്ലാത്ത, നിയമം അനുസരിക്കാത്ത, നിയമവിരുദ്ധമായി പ്രവർത്തിക്കുന്ന, പരിഘാതി
- neglectful, negligent, remiss
- കൃത്യവിലോപം വരുത്തുന്ന, ഉപേക്ഷ വരുത്തുന്ന, ഗൗനിക്കാത്ത, ശ്രദ്ധിക്കാത്ത, അവഗണിക്കുന്ന, വീഴ്ചവരുത്തുന്ന
- wrongdoer, offender, malefactor
- കുറ്റവാളി, പിഴയാളൻ, അപരാധി, കുറ്റക്കാരൻ, കുറ്റം ചെയ്തവൻ, കുറ്റാരോപിതൻ
delinquent in Kannada
- ಅಪರಾಧಿ, ತಪ್ಪಿತಸ್ಥ, ಕರ್ತವ್ಯ ಭ್ರಷ್ಟ, ತಪ್ಪಿದವ, ಸೆರೆಗ
More languagesFewer languages
- delinquent in Tagalog
- dalinsil
- delinquent in Indonesian
- anak nakal
- delinquent in Persian
- خلاف xalâf, خلافکار xalâfkâr, متخلف motexallef, خاطی xâti
Examples of delinquent in a sentence
- Out in the street, some delinquents were roughhousing, until the police drove by.
- Out in the street, some delinquents were roughhousing a victim, until the police drove by.
- They sat there, robed up to the tonsils, and made me feel so below a juvenile delinquent.
Synonyms of delinquent
Forms of delinquent
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more delinquent |
| superlative | most delinquent |
| Noun | |
| plural | delinquents |
Origin of delinquent
Borrowed from Middle French délinquant, ultimately from Latin delinquens, present participle of delinquo.
Words formed from delinquent
Questions about delinquent
- What does delinquent mean?
- Delinquent means late or failing to pay a debt or other financial obligation, like a mortgage or loan.
- What is delinquent in Tamil?
- Delinquent in Tamil is கடமை தவறிய, குற்ற மிழைத்த, கடமை தவறியவர். See Delinquent meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is delinquent?
- Delinquent can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce delinquent?
- Delinquent is pronounced /dɪˈlɪŋkwənt/ (UK).
Words near delinquent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: delinquent (page history and authors); delinquent (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); delinquent (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); delinquent (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); delinquent (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-delinquent.ogg.
Cite this entry: “delinquent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/delinquent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.