Word of the Day Archive
Saturday April 3, 2010
malversation \mal-vur-SAY-shun\
, noun:
Misconduct, corruption, or extortion in public office.
The Inspector General Act was designed to protect patriotic whistle-blowers who seek to reveal malversation in government.
-- Arthur Schlesinger Jr., "How History Will Judge Him", Time, February 22, 1999
Aniano Desierto, the government ombudsman, said that the preliminary investigation would take 60 days and involve six charges: plunder, malversation (misuse of funds), violations of the anti-graft law, perjury, bribery and possession of unexplained wealth.
-- "Estrada faces plunder inquiry", Times (London), January 22, 2001
Malversation comes, via French, from Latin male, "badly" + versari, "to be engaged in, to take part in."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for malversation