三术语均有“不作为”的含义。其中，negative act (也称为act; act of omission)为总称，指不履行法定义务等，为“不作为”[1]。严格说来，negative act包括两种情况，即forbearance (有意不为）和omission (非故意不为）[2]。forbearance是指有意不作为，为一种 intentional negative act[3]。而 omission (古时称为omittance)则多是指一种非故意的不作为行为（an unintentional negative act) [4] 。

[1]“The failure to do something that one has a legal duty to do. ”Cf. Linda Picard Wood, J. D. , Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Law，at p. 10, Merriam-Webster，Incorporated (1996)

[2]“ Negative Act takes the forms of either a forbearance or an omission. ”Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary，7th edition, at p. 25, West Group (1999).

[3] Cf. David M. Walker, The Oxford Companion To Law, Oxford University Press, 

New York (1980).

[4]“An omission is an unintentional negative act, whereas a forbearance is an intentional negative act. Unfortunately, some legal writers use omission when they means forbearance ---a habit contributing to sloppy analysis.”Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, A Dictionary of Modem Legal Usage, 2nd edition, at p. 617, Oxford University Press (1995).