Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Failing to do what law or duty requires.
  • adjective Overdue in payment.
  • noun A juvenile delinquent.
  • noun A person who neglects or fails to do what law or duty requires.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Failing in duty; offending by neglect of duty or obligation: as, a delinquent tenant; a delinquent subscriber.
  • noun One who fails to perform a duty or discharge an obligation; one guilty of a delinquency; an offender; a culprit.
  • noun Synonyms Offender, Delinquent, (see offender); wrong-doer.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Failing in duty; offending by neglect of duty.
  • noun One who fails or neglects to perform his duty; an offender or transgressor; one who commits a fault or a crime; a culprit.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Late or failing to pay a debt or other financial obligation, like a mortgage or loan.
  • adjective Failing in or neglectful of a duty or obligation; guilty of a misdeed or offense
  • noun One who disobeys or breaks rules or laws.
  • noun obsolete a term applied to royalists by their opponents in the English Civil War 1642 - 1645. Charles I was known as the chief delinquent.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective past due; not paid at the scheduled time
  • adjective failing in what duty requires
  • noun a young offender
  • adjective guilty of a misdeed

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin dēlinquēns, dēlinquent-, present participle of dēlinquere, to offend : dē-, de- + linquere, to leave, abandon; see leikw- in Indo-European roots.]

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