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malfeasance

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malfeasance

  • /ˌmælˈfiːzəns/

Where it comes from

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

noun malfeasances

  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.

    Similar: misconduct, misdoing, crime, delict, delinquency, error, malfeasance, misdeed, misdemeanor, offense, peccadillo, sin

  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.

Translations

Every language

noun wrongdoing

Españolmaldad, maleficencia, infracción
Deutschschwerwiegendes Fehlverhalten, schwere Missetat, Übeltat, Untat, Schandtat

noun misconduct doing damage

Españolabuso de autoridad, prevaricación, prevaricato
Portuguêsprevaricação
DeutschSabotage, Sabotageakt, (böswilliges) Dienstvergehen

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Cite this
MLA

"malfeasance." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/malfeasance. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

malfeasance. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/malfeasance

Chicago

"malfeasance." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/malfeasance.

BibTeX
@misc{malfeasance_2026,
  title = {malfeasance},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/malfeasance},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}