malinger

American  

[muh-ling-ger] / məˈlɪŋ gər /

verb (used without object)

• malingers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• malingered,
  past participle,  past
• malingering
  present participle

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

---

malinger British  

/ məˈlɪŋɡə /

verb

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

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• malingerer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• malingering
  present
• malingered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• malinger
  simple
• malingers
  simple
• have malingered
  perfect
• has malingered
  perfect
• am malingering
  progressive
• are malingering
  progressive
• is malingering
  progressive
• have been malingering
  perfect progressive
• has been malingering
  perfect progressive

Past

• malingered
  simple
• had malingered
  perfect
• was malingering
  progressive
• were malingering
  progressive
• had been malingering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will malinger
  simple
• will have malingered
  perfect
• will be malingering
  progressive
• will have been malingering
  perfect progressive

---

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 ); see 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

See Examples For:

malinger malingers malingered malingering

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

To shirk or malinger on the man who paid me my wages was a sin, first, against myself, and second, against him. 

From War of the Classes by Jack London

It used to be said, in the old times, that 'it was human nature' to shirk and malinger and loaf, but we have found that it is no such thing.

From A Traveler from Altruria: Romance by William Dean Howells

But, within limits, they may loaf and malinger, and, as scabs, are exceeded by the machine, which never loafs and malingers and which is the ideally perfect scab.

From War of the Classes by Jack London

It malingers, this idea; it affects us still.

From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2011

His fellow prisoners, the great German admirals Raeder and Doenitz, squabble like jealous ensigns; the disintegrating Rudolph Hess, once Hitler's deputy, malingers and throws fits to garner pity.

From Time Magazine Archive

Now it malingers because of people's concern for the second front.

From Time Magazine Archive

The following study is undertaken less for the purpose of discussing the psychology of malingering than with the object in view of illustrating by means of clinical records the type of individual who malingers.

From Studies in Forensic Psychiatry by Bernard Glueck

Still, nobody would think for one moment that the child malingers when it is unable to answer questions, though these might concern well-known facts.

From Studies in Forensic Psychiatry by Bernard Glueck

Three times already have 1 malingered through medical examinations.

From Time Magazine Archive

He has never sulked, malingered, strutted, whined, wheedled or referred to himself in the third person.

From Time Magazine Archive

The differentiation of the malingered symptoms from the genuine ones is, as a rule, extremely difficult, and great caution is to be exercised in pronouncing a given individual a malingerer.

From Studies in Forensic Psychiatry by Bernard Glueck

The same reward was given by mistake to the boilermaker, Mohammed Sa'íd Haddád, who had malingered, instead of working, through the night.

From The Land of Midian — Volume 1 by Sir Richard Francis Burton

It was not that the men malingered, they simply, neither of them, had the knack of keeping the work going at top speed and top effectiveness.

From A Man to His Mate by Stockton Mulford

Neither the defence's witnesses nor the prison's doctors believed Jeffries was "malingering" - or intentionally fabricating or exaggerating his symptoms.

From BBC ● Mar. 28, 2026

In some cases, they have attributed reported health-effects from fume exposure to factors including hyperventilation, jet lag, psychological stress, mass hysteria and malingering.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2025

Tracy O’Connor Pennuto, a neuropsychologist for the federal prison system, determined he was not malingering and contributed to a report that concluded Girardi had “moderately advanced dementia” with “some features of Alzheimer’s.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2025

Rather Rothman's test scores were so inconsistent and, at times, so low that they could point to only one conclusion: Rothman was malingering, Suarez said.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 17, 2023

One of the warders then reported to Kellerman that Andrew Masondo and I had not been working, and we were to be charged with malingering and insubordination.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---