Delinquent Meaning
/dɪˈlɪŋkwənt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjLate or failing to pay a debt or other financial obligation, like a mortgage or loan.
adjOf a payment or other financial obligation: late or otherwise unfulfilled.
Sentence Examples
The delinquent boy was arraigned for stealing a bicycle.
What shall we do with this delinquent girl?
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ teenager was sentenced to community service for vandalism.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ boy was arraigned for stealing a bicycle.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French délinquant, ultimately from Latin delinquens, present participle of delinquo.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"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 arose to disturb the equanimity of Lady Anne's imperious and irascible temper."
— 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:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ teenager was sentenced to community service for vandalism.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ boy was arraigned for stealing a bicycle.