Meaning & use
dereliction of duty
Last updated
Meaning
phrasecountableformallegallaw
A serious failure to do what your job or position requires you to do.
Grammar: Used as a countable noun phrase: you can say 'a dereliction of duty' or 'derelictions of duty'.
Patterns
- a dereliction of duty
- be guilty of dereliction of duty
- accuse someone of dereliction of duty
The officer was charged with dereliction of duty after abandoning his post.
Leaving the children alone all night was a clear dereliction of duty for a caregiver.
The report accused the manager of dereliction of duty for ignoring safety warnings.
Word forms
| plural | derelictions of duty |
|---|
Common combinations
- be guilty of dereliction of duty
- The sergeant was found guilty of dereliction of duty.
- a clear dereliction of duty
- The judge called it a clear dereliction of duty.
- accuse someone of dereliction of duty
- The opposition accused the minister of dereliction of duty.
- face charges of dereliction of duty
- He may face charges of dereliction of duty.
Synonyms and how they differ
- negligence
- Negligence is a broader legal term for carelessness that causes harm; dereliction of duty specifically means failing to do your required job.
- misconduct
- Misconduct means unacceptable behavior at work; dereliction of duty focuses on not doing the job at all.
Commonly confused: dereliction of duty or dereliction?
dereliction of duty vs dereliction
Dereliction alone can mean the state of being abandoned, as in 'the dereliction of the old factory'. The full phrase 'dereliction of duty' is only about failing to do your job.
Practice
The soldier was accused of ______ for sleeping while on guard duty.
Choose one answer.
The fixed phrase is 'dereliction of duty', meaning failure to do your job. The other options are not natural English phrases.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dereliction of duty”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.