malfeasance

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

• IPA^(key): /ˌmælˈfiːzəns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mal‧fea‧sance

malfeasance (countable and uncountable, plural malfeasances)

1. Wrongdoing.
2. (law) Misconduct or wrongdoing, especially by a public official and causing damage.

   Coordinate terms: misfeasance, nonfeasance

   • 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:

     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.

• (wrongdoing): misconduct, wrongdoing