These words indicate a failure to pay the proper attention or respect to something. Slight makes the failure a matter of degree; the word suggests that whatever attention or respect has been given is totally inadequate to the situation at hand: deliberately slighting the ambassador by placing him at the far end of the table. Snub is more restricted in emphasizing that aspect of slight that pertains exclusively to manners and propriety; in this case the lack of respect is unsubtle and overt rather than implied. It also usually suggests a single, dramatic action rather than a gradual process of attrition: deliberately snubbing him by turning and walking away in the middle of his sentence. Cut is very similar to snub except that it usually involves no initial contact or communication at all: When she met me in the street she cut me dead by looking in another direction. Whether or not a person has been slighted may be a matter of interpretation; there can be no doubt about someone’s having been snubbed or cut .

Neglect is mainly restricted to that aspect of slight that suggests an inequitable division of attention, except that in this case the amount of attention given is even less than is true for slight . The word may suggest either an intentional or unintentional failure of attention, unlike slight and especially snub and cut , where the failure is most clearly conscious and deliberate: a research project that caused him not merely to treat his student casually but to neglect them altogether in his usual absentminded way. Neglect in its very generality can apply also to situations where courtesy or propriety is the issue: a hostess who never neglects the slightest expression of uneasiness on the part of any of her guests.

Disregard and ignore are like neglect in applying to the more general context of failures in attention, but both words suggest a complete-failure rather than a partial one. In this case, ignore particularly stresses an intentional refusal to take account of a warning: ignoring the detour signs until he pulled up at the wrecked bridge. Disregard implies a denial of attention to something because of superior knowledge or more pressing considerations: asking the jurors to disregard her evidence as false and contradictory. While ignore suggests that something has been rejected without any conscious consideration, disregard can suggest a careful, wholly conscious evaluation that results in dismissal: eager to show that however he might disregard her advice, he would never ignore it. When these two words apply to manners, ignore compares with snub in stressing deliberate act, ignore refers to the omission of even minimal courtesies: ignoring the guest of honour all evening. In this context, disregard her public outburst as inconsequential and unworthy of an answer.