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malfeasant

[mal-fee-zuhns] Origin

mal·fea·sance

[mal-fee-zuhns]
noun Law.
the performance by a public official of an act that is legally unjustified, harmful, or contrary to law; wrongdoing (used especially of an act in violation of a public trust). Compare misfeasance (def. 2), nonfeasance.

Origin:
1690–1700; earlier malefeasance. See male-, feasance

mal·fea·sant, adjective, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Malfeasant is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
Collins
World English Dictionary
malfeasance (mælˈfiːzəns)
 
n
law misfeasance Compare nonfeasance the doing of a wrongful or illegal act, esp by a public official
 
[C17: from Old French mal faisant, from mal evil + faisant doing, from faire to do, from Latin facere]
 
mal'feasant
 
n, —adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

malfeasance
1690s, from Fr. malfaisance "wrongdoing," from mal- "badly" (see mal-) + faisant, prp. of faire "to do," from L. facere "to do" (see factitious). Malfeasor "wrong-doer" is attested from early 14c. Related: Malfeasant.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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