ignorable

English

Etymology

From ignore +‎ -able.

Adjective

ignorable (comparative more ignorable, superlative most ignorable)

1. Able to be ignored.

   Users on this Internet chat system are ignorable by right-clicking the user name.

2. Insignificant or trivial enough to be ignored.

   Synonyms: negligible, neglectable, trivial, insignificant

   Antonyms: unignorable, noticeable, important, radical, significant

3. (statistics, of missing data) Unrelated to the parameters being estimated

   Antonym: informative

   • 2003, Jos W. R. Twisk, Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis for Epidemiology, →ISBN:

     Although there is an abundance of statistical literature describing (complicated) methods that can be used to investigate whether or not one is dealing with ignorable or informative missing data in a longitudinal study (see, for instance, Diggle, 1989; Ridout, 1991; Diggle et al., 1994), it is basically quote easy to investigat this matter.

   • 2007, Patrick E. McKnight, Katherine M. McKnight, Souraya Sidani, Missing Data: A Gentle Introduction, →ISBN, page 50:

     Another pertinent distinction in Rubin's missing data classification system is whether the missing data mechanism is ignorable.

   • 2015, Trivellore Raghunathan, Missing Data Analysis in Practice, →ISBN, page 6:

     If θ and φ are not functionally related to each other (or that the knowledge of one does not provide any information about the other) then the parameters are called “distinct,” and the missing data mechanism is ignorable.

Usage notes

• Used especially in statistics, in regards to the conditions under which the fact that a set of observations has missing data items can be ignored in statistical inference.

Translations

that can be ignored

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 可忽略的 (kě hūlüè de)

• Dutch: negeerbare
• French: ignorable (fr)
• German: vernachlässigbar (de)
• Italian: ignorabile (it)
• Japanese: つまらない (ja) (tsumaranai), くだらない (ja) (kudaranai), 些細な (ja) (sasai na)
• Korean: 무시(無視) 가능(可能)하다 (musi ganeunghada)
• Ottoman Turkish: یسیر (yesir)
• Portuguese: ignorável
• Spanish: ignorable
• Turkish: yok sayılabilir

Noun

ignorable (plural ignorables)

1. Anything that can be ignored.
   • 1969, Michael Huxley, The Geographical Magazine, volume 42, page 389:

     So long as people like Mr Spearing stop at this point and resort to adjectives instead of numbers, so long will engineers, and probably also decision makers, continue to treat intangibles as ignorables.

See also

• imputation
• missingness
• nonresponse