WRONGDOING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does wrongdoing mean? 

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

1. departure from what is ethically acceptable

2. activity that transgresses moral or civil law

  Familiarity information: WRONGDOING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WRONGDOING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Departure from what is ethically acceptable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

error; wrongdoing

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

evil; evilness (the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Activity that transgresses moral or civil law

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

actus reus; misconduct; wrongdoing; wrongful conduct

Context example:

he denied any wrongdoing

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

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "wrongdoing"):

perversion (the action of perverting something (turning it to a wrong use))

infringement; violation (an act that disregards an agreement or a right)

criminal maintenance; maintenance (the unauthorized interference in a legal action by a person having no interest in it (as by helping one party with money or otherwise to continue the action) so as to obstruct justice or promote unnecessary litigation or unsettle the peace of the community)

champerty (an unethical agreement between an attorney and client that the attorney would sue and pay the costs of the client's suit in return for a portion of the damages awarded)

falsification; misrepresentation (a willful perversion of facts)

dishonesty; knavery (lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing)

evildoing; transgression (the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle)

infliction (an act causing pain or damage)

iniquity; injustice; shabbiness; unfairness (an unjust act)

injury (an act that causes someone or something to receive physical damage)

injury (wrongdoing that violates another's rights and is unjustly inflicted)

brutalisation; brutalization (the activity of treating someone savagely or viciously)

malpractice (professional wrongdoing that results in injury or damage)

malpractice (a wrongful act that the actor had no right to do; improper professional conduct)

misfeasance (doing a proper act in a wrongful or injurious manner)

malfeasance (wrongful conduct by a public official)

dereliction (willful negligence)

misbehavior; misbehaviour; misdeed (improper or wicked or immoral behavior)

malversation (misconduct in public office)

civil wrong; tort ((law) any wrongdoing for which an action for damages may be brought)

encroachment; intrusion; trespass; usurpation; violation (entry to another's property without right or permission)

 Context examples 

Wrongdoing always brings its own punishment, and when Jo most needed hers, she got it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Very precious to Jo was the friendship of the lads, their penitent sniffs and whispers after wrongdoing, their droll or touching little confidences, their pleasant enthusiasms, hopes, and plans, even their misfortunes, for they only endeared them to her all the more.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)