Remissness

Remissness is the state or quality of being remiss, meaning a failure to fulfill obligations, duties, or expected standards due to carelessness, oversight, or laxity. It implies negligence in action or attention, rather than deliberate malice, though the consequences can be serious in professional or moral contexts.

The word derives from remiss, from Latin remissus, and is a formal or literary noun in modern English. In everyday usage, terms such as negligence or neglect are more common.

Contexts in which remissness is discussed include workplaces such as medicine, law, aviation, and engineering, where it may be cited as a factor in errors or safety incidents and can affect evaluations, discipline, or risk management. In ethics or religious contexts, remissness may describe failing to uphold duties or commitments to others.

Synonyms include negligence, neglect, laxity, and carelessness. Antonyms include diligence, conscientiousness, thoroughness, and attentiveness.

Example sentences: The remissness in documenting patient records led to delays in treatment. Investigators cited remissness in safety protocols as a contributing factor to the incident.