- maleficence, malfeasance
- The first means a propensity to cause hurt or harm. The second is a legal term describing wrongdoing.
Dictionary of troublesome word. Bill Bryson. 2013.
maleficence, malfeasance
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maleficence, malfeasance — The first means a propensity to cause hurt or harm. The second is a legal term describing wrongdoing … Dictionary of troublesome word
maleficence — (n.) 1590s, from M.Fr. maleficence or directly from L. maleficentia evildoing, mischievousness, injury, from maleficus wicked (see MALEFIC (Cf. malefic)). Now largely displaced by MALFEASANCE (Cf. malfeasance) … Etymology dictionary
Maleficence — Ma*lef i*cence, n. [L. maleficentia. Cf. {Malfeasance}.] Evil doing, esp. to others. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Malfeasance — Mal*fea sance, n. [F. malfaisance, fr. malfaisant injurious, doing ill; mal ill, evil + faisant doing, p. pr. of faire to do. See {Malice}, {Feasible}, and cf. {Maleficence}.] (Law) The doing of an act which a person ought not to do; evil… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
maleficence — , malfeasance The first means a propensity to cause hurt or harm. The second is a legal term describing wrongdoing … Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors
malefeasance — Malfeasance Mal*fea sance, n. [F. malfaisance, fr. malfaisant injurious, doing ill; mal ill, evil + faisant doing, p. pr. of faire to do. See {Malice}, {Feasible}, and cf. {Maleficence}.] (Law) The doing of an act which a person ought not to do;… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
evil — Synonyms and related words: Loki, Nemesis, Set, Typhon, aberrant, abnormal, abominable, abomination, accursed, ado, affliction, agony, amorality, angry, anguish, annoyance, anxiety, apocalyptic, arrant, atrocious, atrocity, awful, backsliding,… … Moby Thesaurus
