Dictionary

malfeasance en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌmælˈfiːzəns/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Old French malfaisance, derived from malfaire, maufaire (“to do evil”), from Latin malefaciō (“to do evil”), from male (“evilly”) + faciō (“to do, make”).

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Wrongdoing.
   • For starters, back-burnering malfeasance, usually in the form of graft, risks repeating the kind of disastrous mistakes that the United States made in Afghanistan. 2024 August 14, Anna Mulrine Grobe, “US weapons help Ukraine advance. Will concerns about corruption put that at risk?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:
2. (countable, uncountable) Misconduct or wrongdoing, especially by a public official and causing damage.
   • By then, Mr. Altman had gathered more allies. Mr. Nadella, now confident that Mr. Altman was not guilty of malfeasance, threw Microsoft’s weight behind him. 2023 December 9, Tripp Mickle, Cade Metz, Mike Isaac, Karen Weise, “Inside OpenAI’s Crisis Over the Future of Artificial Intelligence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms

Coordinates

nonfeasance · misfeasance

Relateds

malfeasant · maleficence · malefactor · maleficent · feasance

Synonyms

crime · misdoing · delinquency · villainy · malfeasance · misdeed · delict · transgression · offense · tortfeasance · misdoing · error · wrong · misconduct · misdemeanor · peccadillo · sin · tort · veniality · wrongdoing

Translations (30)

fi sabotaasi (misconduct doing damage) · es infracción (wrongdoing) · de Sabotage (misconduct doing damage) · sh malverzacija (wrongdoing) · cs přestoupení n zákona (wrongdoing) · de Schandtat (wrongdoing) · es prevaricato (misconduct doing damage) · sh zloupotreba (misconduct doing damage) · de schwerwiegendes Fehlverhalten (wrongdoing) · de Sabotageakt (misconduct doing damage) · fi pahanteko (wrongdoing) · es abuso de autoridad (misconduct doing damage) · de Übeltat (wrongdoing) · bg злосторство (wrongdoing) · cs trestný čin (wrongdoing) · sh zloporaba (misconduct doing damage) · gd olc (wrongdoing) · de Untat (wrongdoing) · fi virkarikos (misconduct doing damage) · sv myndighetsmissbruk (misconduct doing damage) · cs zločin (wrongdoing) · de schwere Missetat (wrongdoing) · es maldad (wrongdoing) · es maleficencia (wrongdoing) · pt prevaricação (misconduct doing damage) · gd sabotàis (misconduct doing damage) · de (böswilliges) Dienstvergehen (misconduct doing damage) · es prevaricación (misconduct doing damage) · cs sabotáž (misconduct doing damage) · bg злоупотреба (misconduct doing damage)