Meanings
plural malpractices
- countableuncountableImproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person.
When such a breakdown occurs there must be a full examination of the corruption that has been committed, and the leaders involved in malpractices must be encouraged to give a full account of what took place.
2007, Stephen Prosser, To Be a Servant-Leader2 more examples
A national-security budget where we spend 20 times as much money on the military and intelligence agencies as we do on diplomacy, democracy promotion, and smart power, is foreign-policy malpractice in the modern world.
2019 October 7, Chris Murphy, “How to Make a Progressive Foreign Policy Actually Work”, in The Atlantic“It was malpractice on the side of Harvard’s lawyers not to pick up the phone and call the members of the antisemitism task force who they had been talking to for weeks,” said May Mailman, the White House senior policy strategist.
2025 April 19, Michael S. Schmidt, Michael C. Bender, quoting May Mailman, “Trump Officials Blame Mistake for Setting Off Confrontation With Harvard”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)mel-
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)molos?
- Proto-Italic*malos
- Latinmalus
- Latinmale
- Old Frenchmal-
- Englishmal-
- Medieval Latinprācticō
- Middle Frenchpratiquer
- Middle Frenchpractiser, pratiser
- Middle Englishpracticen, practisen, practizen, practysen
- Middle Englishpractice, practique, practyse
- Englishpractice
- Englishmalpractice
Translations
Bulgarian лекарска небрежност
- лекарска небрежност (lekarska nebrežnost)the improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
Chinese Mandarin 醫療過失 /医疗过失, 職業不當行為 /职业不当行为
- 醫療過失 /医疗过失 (yīliáo guòshī)the improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- 職業不當行為 /职业不当行为 (zhíyè bùdàng xíngwéi)improper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Czech nedbalost, zneužití úřední moci
- nedbalostthe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- zneužití úřední mociimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Dutch wanpraktijk
- wanpraktijkthe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
Finnish hoitovirhe, epäeettinen toiminta
- hoitovirhethe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- epäeettinen toimintaimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
French négligence médicale, méconduite
- négligence médicalethe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- méconduiteimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
German Kunstfehler, Behandlungsfehler
- Kunstfehlerthe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- Behandlungsfehlerthe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- Amtsmissbrauchimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Hungarian műhiba, vétkes gondatlanság
- műhibathe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- vétkes gondatlanságimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
- mulasztásimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
- jogellenes gyakorlat/cselekedet/viselkedésimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
- foglalkozás körében elkövetett veszélyeztetésimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Irish míchleachtas, míchleachtas
- míchleachtasthe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- míchleachtasimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Malay amalan salah
- amalan salahimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Polish błąd w sztuce
- błąd w sztuceimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Portuguese negligência, negligência
- negligênciathe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- negligênciaimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Russian должностно́е преступле́ние, престу́пная хала́тность
- должностно́е преступле́ние (dolžnostnóje prestuplénije)improper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
- престу́пная хала́тность (prestúpnaja xalátnostʹ)improper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Spanish mala praxis, mala praxis
- mala praxisthe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
- mala praxisimproper or unethical conduct by a professional or official person
Turkish tıbbi hata
- tıbbi hatathe improper treatment of a patient by a physician that results in injury or loss
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
malpractice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malpractice
“malpractice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malpractice. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “malpractice,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malpractice.
Source: malpractice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.