This week we continue our vocabulary-building series, “The Closing Word.” Each week we provide a new word to help build your vocabulary and show you an example of how to use it.
This week’s closing word:
malfeasance
Pronounced: (mal-FEE-since)
Noun:
wrongful conduct by a public official
From Vocabulary.com: “If nothing else, the mal- in malfeasance will alert you to the fact that something bad is going on. If you know French, fease-, faise- will ring a bell, as it often means “to do.” You can probably then infer that malfeasance means “to do bad.” Today, it’s usually a bad deed done by an official or an organization. You wouldn’t accuse a dog who peed on the carpet of malfeasance, but you would accuse a mayor who took a bribe of malfeasance.”
Example:
“Investigators discovered the senator had been accepting secret cash gifts from industry lobbyists, and it was this malfeasance which brought him down.”
