misconduct
Americannoun
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improper or wrong behavior.
Numerous accusations of sexual misconduct have blighted his campaign.
Her license was revoked for professional misconduct and poor professional performance.
- Synonyms:
- misstep, misdeed, misbehavior, wrongdoing
-
unlawful behavior by an official in regard to their office, or by a person in the administration of justice, such as a lawyer, witness, or juror; malfeasance.
A complaint was filed against the prosecutor, alleging misconduct in the case.
verb (used with object)
-
to mismanage.
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to misbehave (oneself ).
noun
verb
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to conduct (oneself) in such a way
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to manage (something) badly
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misconductsimple
-
misconductssimple
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have misconductedperfect
-
has misconductedperfect
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am misconductingprogressive
-
are misconductingprogressive
-
is misconductingprogressive
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have been misconductingperfect progressive
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has been misconductingperfect progressive
Past
-
misconductedsimple
-
had misconductedperfect
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was misconductingprogressive
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were misconductingprogressive
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had been misconductingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misconduct
Explanation
Misconduct is any kind of bad, unethical, or illegal activity. When there's misconduct, someone is doing something wrong. Since conduct is behavior, misconduct is behavior that's not quite right: some kind of shady or criminal conduct. If an accountant cooked the books — lied about finances — that's misconduct. A police officer taking a bribe is guilty of misconduct. Often, misconduct specifically refers to someone who does improper things on behalf of someone else, like the misconduct of a dishonest lawyer.
Vocabulary lists containing misconduct
mis-
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Simply Scandalous!
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mis-
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A judge who acts abruptly or rudely, or who appears to make random decisions, is not necessarily guilty of misconduct.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 9, 2026
Reports routinely include aspects of parenting on which reasonable people disagree, such as how old a child should be to play unsupervised, or that reflect a parents’ lack of resources instead of any intentional misconduct.
From Slate • Jul. 7, 2026
He had been teaching at the school since 1986 until removed following allegations of misconduct.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 6, 2026
Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson has disputed allegations of misconduct carried in an investigation by golf publication Skratch, with his representatives calling the piece an "anonymously sourced drive-by shooting".
From BBC • Jul. 2, 2026
Michael and I put a petition together that asserted all of these claims, including police and prosecutorial misconduct, and filed it in the Monroe County Circuit Court.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
