Meanings
plural tortfeasors
- lawA person who commits a tort.
Damages paid by the settling tortfeasor which are greater than the pro rata amount can easily be attributed to his desire to avoid legal fees and bad press, or misspeculation about the merits and likely outcome of the case.
1992, Moot Court Casebook - Volume 16, pages 9-231 more example
[…] there is an exception “in the cases of heir and executor, who may plead a release to the ancestor or testator whom they respectively represent; so also with respect to several tortfeasors, for in all these cases there is a privity between the parties which constitutes an identity of person”.
1881, Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Common Law
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchtortfesor
- Anglo-Normantortfeasor
- Englishtortfeasor
From Anglo-Norman tortfeasor, from Old French tortfesor, tort-faiseur, torfesor, torzfesor (“wrongdoer”), from tort (“a misdeed, a wrong”) + fesor, faiseur (“doer”).
More words from Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch schadeverwekker, laedens
- schadeverwekkerperson who commits a tort
- laedensperson who commits a tort
German Schädiger, Täter
- Schädigerperson who commits a tort
- Täterperson who commits a tort
Spanish agraviador, agresor
- agraviadorperson who commits a tort
- agresorperson who commits a tort
- injuriadorperson who commits a tort
Welsh camweddwr
- camweddwrperson who commits a tort
Cite this entry
tortfeasor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tortfeasor
“tortfeasor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tortfeasor. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tortfeasor,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tortfeasor.
Source: tortfeasor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.