What is defined as a failure to use the degree of care expected from a reasonable person?

The definition of negligence is indeed characterized by a failure to exercise the level of care that a reasonable person would provide under similar circumstances. This concept is crucial in law, particularly in personal injury cases or when determining if one party's actions caused harm to another. The central idea is that a reasonable person is expected to avoid actions that could foreseeably cause harm to others, and when they fail to act accordingly, that constitutes negligence.

In legal terms, proving negligence typically involves establishing that the individual had a duty of care to the injured party, that they breached that duty through their actions (or inaction), and that this breach directly resulted in the injury or damage suffered.

The other definitions do not encapsulate this concept as specifically. Tort refers to a broader class of civil wrongs not arising from contractual obligations, while liability pertains to being responsible for something, typically in the context of legal accountability. An accident denotes an unexpected event that causes harm, but it doesn't encompass the failure to act with reasonable care, which is fundamental to understanding negligence. Thus, negligence is the term that best defines the failure to use the appropriate degree of care expected from a reasonable person.