malfeasance

mal·fea·sance
M3A1L1F4E1A1S1A1N1C3E1
/ˌmælˈfiːzəns/

noun

Wrongdoing.

Similar
misconductmisdoingcrimedelictdelinquencyerrormisdeedmisdemeanor
OriginOld French malfaisance ← Latin malefaciō →
UncommonScrabble 18
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Word of the Day · Jul 9, 2022

Meanings

nounmalfeasance (countable and uncountable, plural malfeasances)

plural malfeasances

  1. countableuncountableWrongdoing.

    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

    Synonyms: misconduct, misdoing, crime, delict, delinquency, error, misdeed, misdemeanor

  2. countableuncountablelawMisconduct 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

Synonyms & antonyms

nounWrongdoing.

Similar
misconductmisdoingcrimedelictdelinquencyerrormisdeedmisdemeanormisdoingoffensepeccadillosintorttortfeasancetransgressionvenialityvillainywrongwrongdoing
Also see
crimedelinquencyerrormalefactionmisdeedmisdemeanormisdoingoffensepeccadilloperpetrationsintorttortfeasancetransgressionvenialitywrongwrongdoing

Origin

  1. Latinmalefaciō“to do evil”
  2. Old Frenchmalfaisance
  3. Englishmalfeasance

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

More words from Old French, Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian злосторство, злоупотреба
  • злосторство (zlostorstvo)wrongdoing
  • злоупотреба (zloupotreba)misconduct doing damage
Czech zločin, trestný čin
  • zločinwrongdoing
  • trestný činwrongdoing
  • přestoupení n zákonawrongdoing
  • sabotážmisconduct doing damage
Finnish pahanteko, virkarikos
  • pahantekowrongdoing
  • virkarikosmisconduct doing damage
  • sabotaasimisconduct doing damage
German schwerwiegendes Fehlverhalten, schwere Missetat
  • schwerwiegendes Fehlverhaltenwrongdoing
  • schwere Missetatwrongdoing
  • Übeltatwrongdoing
  • Untatwrongdoing
  • Schandtatwrongdoing
  • Sabotagemisconduct doing damage
  • Sabotageaktmisconduct doing damage
  • (böswilliges) Dienstvergehenmisconduct doing damage
Portuguese prevaricação
  • prevaricaçãomisconduct doing damage
Scottish Gaelic olc, sabotàis
  • olcwrongdoing
  • sabotàismisconduct doing damage
Spanish maldad, maleficencia
  • maldadwrongdoing
  • maleficenciawrongdoing
  • infracciónwrongdoing
  • abuso de autoridadmisconduct doing damage
  • prevaricaciónmisconduct doing damage
  • prevaricatomisconduct doing damage
Swedish myndighetsmissbruk
  • myndighetsmissbrukmisconduct doing damage
Cite this entry
APA

malfeasance. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malfeasance

MLA

“malfeasance.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malfeasance. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “malfeasance,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malfeasance.

Source: malfeasance on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.