failure to act
Doing nothing wrong
Failure to act is the neglect or omission of doing something that should be done, especially when there's a duty or expectation to respond.
The phrase appears often in legal contexts, where someone's inaction causes harm: The lawsuit alleged failure to act on safety warnings.
It can also describe bureaucratic paralysis or personal avoidance: His failure to act cost them the opportunity.
- nonfeasanceFailure to perform duty
- omissionFailure to include
- sins of omissionMoral failures through inaction
- negligenceFailure to exercise care
- bystander effectInaction amid witnesses
standing idly by · looking the other way · passivity · dereliction · asleep at the wheel · abdication · dropped the ball · procrastination · apathy · breach · culpability · willful blindness · head in the sand · inertia · avoidance · irresponsibility · passing the buck · inaction
- wrongdoingmisconduct, crime, sabotage, crimes, misbehavior
- criminal lawcrime, felony, misdemeanor, murder, robbery
- neglect crimeschild neglect, neglect, nonfeasance, dereliction of duty, elder neglect
- Blameblame, fault, culprit, accusation, guilt-tripping
- negligenceneglect, gross negligence, criminal negligence, medical negligence, negligence
- Willful Ignoranceturning a blind eye, head in sand, looking away, blinders, selective attention
failure to actaction
Process of doing
acting · taking action · intervention · engagement · initiative
failure to actcommission
Payment for services rendered
perpetration · misfeasance · malfeasance · willful misconduct