MALPRACTICE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does malpractice mean? 

• MALPRACTICE (noun)
  The noun MALPRACTICE has 2 senses:

1. professional wrongdoing that results in injury or damage

2. a wrongful act that the actor had no right to do; improper professional conduct

  Familiarity information: MALPRACTICE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MALPRACTICE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Professional wrongdoing that results in injury or damage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the widow sued his surgeon for malpractice

Hypernyms ("malpractice" is a kind of...):

actus reus; misconduct; wrongdoing; wrongful conduct (activity that transgresses moral or civil law)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A wrongful act that the actor had no right to do; improper professional conduct

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

he charged them with electoral malpractices

Hypernyms ("malpractice" is a kind of...):

actus reus; misconduct; wrongdoing; wrongful conduct (activity that transgresses moral or civil law)

 Context examples 

My object, when the contest within myself between stipend and no stipend, baker and no baker, existence and non-existence, ceased, was to take advantage of my opportunities to discover and expose the major malpractices committed, to that gentleman's grievous wrong and injury, by—HEEP.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It is not my intention, he continued reading on, to enter on a detailed list, within the compass of the present epistle (though it is ready elsewhere), of the various malpractices of a minor nature, affecting the individual whom I have denominated Mr. W., to which I have been a tacitly consenting party.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)