Malpractice
nounImproper, negligent, or illegal conduct by a professional that breaches the standard of care owed to a client or patient.
How to spell malpractice
11 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce malpractice
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does malpractice mean?
- nounImproper, negligent, or illegal conduct by a professional that breaches the standard of care owed to a client or patient.
Malpractice in a sentence
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The surgeon was sued for malpractice after the botched operation.
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The firm carries insurance to cover claims of legal malpractice.
Where does malpractice come from?
Language of origin: Latin
This word joins the Latin prefix mal-, from malus meaning 'bad' or 'evil', to the noun 'practice'. The second half traces back through Old French practiser and medieval Latin practicare to the Greek praktikos, meaning 'concerned with action' or 'practical', itself from prassein, 'to do' or 'to act'. By the seventeenth century English speakers were combining mal- with practice to describe wrongful or improper professional conduct, especially by a doctor or a lawyer failing in their duty of care. The same mal- prefix still announces 'bad' in relatives such as malnutrition, malfunction, and malice. A useful spelling cue is that malpractice is simply 'mal' plus the ordinary noun 'practice', so it keeps the -ice ending of the noun rather than the -ise ending of the verb.
How the word is built
- mal- (bad, wrongful)
- practice (professional conduct, ultimately from Greek praktikos 'fit for action')
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