as in crime
a breaking of a moral or legal code
the town treasurer has been linked to the kickback scheme and other financial malefactions
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Recent Examples of malefaction
And the principle remains that representing a malefactor isn’t, ipso facto, an act of malefaction.
—
Kwame Anthony Appiah,
New York Times,
28 Sep. 2022
A pitch-framing specialist with rare agility behind the plate, Wolters must coax pitchers through Coors Field and its occasional malefactions.
—
Orange County Register,
1 Apr. 2017
Kwame Anthony Appiah,
New York Times,
28 Sep. 2022
A pitch-framing specialist with rare agility behind the plate, Wolters must coax pitchers through Coors Field and its occasional malefactions.
—
Orange County Register,
1 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malefaction
Noun
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My job is to report in a timely manner on crime, mass shootings, war coverage, domestic and international affairs, pop culture and more.
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Although federal law requires the VA to publish statistics on arrests, citations, investigations and prosecutions by local agencies, the campus police website has no link to crime data.
Noun
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She is also accused of harassment and violation of temporary order for protection against domestic violence, both of which are misdemeanor offenses.
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According to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office, 51-year-old Mathers of Chesterfield did not appear for an adjourned bond-violation hearing and sentencing after pleading no contest on May 11 to operating while intoxicated.
Noun
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The continuation of the Corleone Family saga expands until Michael (Al Pacino) commits the ultimate brotherly sin, but the story’s jump back in time — in which Robert De Niro plays a younger version of Marlon Brando’s Vito — features many of the most iconic sequences in 1970s cinema.
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The movie’s gravest sin, though, might be its very existence.
Cite this Entry
“Malefaction.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malefaction. Accessed 29 Jun. 2026.
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