malefactor

American  

[mal-uh-fak-ter] / ˈmæl əˌfæk tər /

noun

1. a person who violates the law; criminal.

   Synonyms:

   culprit, felon

2. a person who does harm or evil, especially toward another.

   Antonyms:

   benefactor

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malefactor British  

/ ˈmælɪˌfæktə /

noun

1. a criminal; wrongdoer

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Other Word Forms

• malefaction
  noun
• malefactress
  noun

Etymology

Origin of malefactor

1400–50; late Middle English malefactour < Latin malefactor, equivalent to malefac ( ere ) to act wickedly, do an evil deed ( see male-, fact) + -tor -tor

Explanation

A malefactor has done something illegal and has been or will be convicted, such as the malefactor who was videotaped stealing money from a cash register. To correctly pronounce malefactor, remember that the first syllable, mal rhymes with pal. A malefactor, however, is no friend you should have. Mal- comes from Latin and means "bad, evil," and facere means "to perform." A malefactor performs evil acts, or to put it a little less dramatically, does really bad things.

Example Sentences

He having received it would have shifted off the Punishment of the Malefactor.

From An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon in the East Indies Together with an Account of the Detaining in Captivity the Author and Divers other Englishmen Now Living There, and of the Author's Miraculous Escape by Knox, Robert

Times The Malefactor An amazing story of the strange revenge of Sir Wingrave Seton, who suffered imprisonment for a crime he did not commit.

From Berenice by Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)

The Malefactor An amazing story of a strange revenge.

From Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo by Grefé, Will

Another Malefactor being very loth to die, a Comforter said to him, that Kings and Popes must all submit to Death.

From The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume II Being the Observations He Made in His Late Travels From Prussia thro' Germany, Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, England, &C. in Letters to His Friend. Discovering Not Only the Present State of the Chief Cities and Towns; but the Characters of the Principal Persons at the Several Courts. by P?llnitz, Karl Ludwig von

Malefactor and cannibal, speakest thou thus, treating us and our city and our emperor as heretics?

From The Formation of Christendom, Volume VII by Allies, Thomas W.