malinger

American  

[muh-ling-ger] / məˈlɪŋ gər /

verb (used without object)

1. to pretend illness, especially in order to shirk one's duty, avoid work, etc.

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malinger British  

/ məˈlɪŋɡə /

verb

1. (intr) to pretend or exaggerate illness, esp to avoid work

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Other Word Forms

• malingerer noun

Etymology

Origin of malinger

First recorded in 1810–20; from French malingre “sickly, ailing,” equivalent to mal- “bad, ill” + Old French heingre “haggard” (perhaps from Germanic ); mal-

Explanation

When you malinger, you pretend to be sick. If you ever claimed to have a stomach ache in order to stay home from school, you know what it means to malinger. The word malinger comes from the French malingre, which can mean "ailing or sickly," but its exact origin is uncertain. One theory says that mal, or "wrongly," suggests the sick person is just faking. Lying about a stomach ache, holding the thermometer near a light bulb, refusing to get out of bed, moaning — these are classic tactics of those who malinger, or pretend to be too sick to do anything but lie around the house.

Example Sentences

In other cases, prisoners malinger to try to get themselves out of solitary confinement, or a transfer into a quieter mental health-centered unit.

From Slate • Feb. 22, 2022

She looked up malinger and read the definition: “To pretend to be ill in order to escape duty or work.’

From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech

One, of course, can readily see with what facility an individual of the type under discussion could malinger mental symptoms.

From Studies in Forensic Psychiatry by Glueck, Bernard

When the sound shall pass my sense’s confines, Melt away to color or thin flame, Does it still malinger in the prism, Falsify the crucible with shame?

From Behind the Arras A Book of the Unseen by Meteyard, Thomas Buford

X For weeks, for months I have not seen the sun; The minatory dawns are leprous pale; The felon days malinger one by one; How like a dream Life is! how vain! how stale!

From Rhymes of a Rolling Stone by Service, Robert W. (Robert William)