misconduct
Americannoun
-
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Her license was revoked for professional misconduct and poor professional performance.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)
-
misconducts,
present (3rd person singular)
-
misconducted,
past participle, past
-
misconducting
present participle
-
to mismanage.
-
to misbehave (oneself ).
noun
verb
-
to conduct (oneself) in such a way
-
to manage (something) badly
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misconductsimple
-
misconductssimple
-
have misconductedperfect
-
has misconductedperfect
-
am misconductingprogressive
-
are misconductingprogressive
-
is misconductingprogressive
-
have been misconductingperfect progressive
-
has been misconductingperfect progressive
Past
-
misconductedsimple
-
had misconductedperfect
-
was misconductingprogressive
-
were misconductingprogressive
-
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
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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.
See Examples For:
It is understood the investigation file relates to alleged offences including misconduct in a public office.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
The bill also creates whistleblower protections for law firm employees who report misconduct, and would enact new restrictions on loans that attorneys give their clients.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
Are there grounds for a legal malpractice claim or professional misconduct?
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
This way, she explained, where there is "clear evidence of misconduct", the police can decide whether they dismiss an officer based on the evidence-led ombudsman investigation.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
He had recently asked me to help him with an Alabama civil rights case involving law enforcement misconduct.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
It also caused a scrum that resulted in six penalties, including two unsportsmanlike penalties and two misconducts.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 10, 2023
They took four penalties in the first 50-plus minutes of the game and then many more, including three misconducts, in a late scuffle.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 4, 2023
“However,” she said, “the system that has allowed these misconducts remains.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 29, 2022
All three Florida goals were of the gritty variety from inside the crease, on a night where tempers flared with 19 penalties — four of them misconducts.
From Fox News ● Mar. 4, 2022
I simply register the inevitable sentence of the husband upon the wife who misconducts herself!
From Dolly Reforming Herself A Comedy in Four Acts by Henry Arthur Jones
I am authowized to call for fifty volunteers; but I wish you all distinctly to understand that no man who has in any way misconducted himself will be accepted.
From Under the Meteor Flag Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War by Harry Collingwood
She has never misconducted herself; and what is more, she has been cruelly used since she came home.”
From The Claverings by Anthony Trollope
He now said he thought Mrs. Burroughs had misconducted herself, and he could not order her husband to take her home again.
From Norfolk Annals A Chronological Record of Remarkable Events in the Nineteeth Century, Vol. 2 by Charles Mackie
"Nechutes has misconducted himself," she objected, "and I would not be left alone with him."
From The Yoke A Romance of the Days when the Lord Redeemed the Children of Israel from the Bondage of Egypt by Elizabeth Miller
He was a blustering, swashbuckling army officer, who could always be brought to account if he misconducted himself, or mixed himself up in shady transactions.
From The Passenger from Calais by Arthur Griffiths
If that's agreed, detectives will then look for evidence that the incident in question saw the suspect "wilfully" neglecting to perform their duty or wilfully misconducting themselves in some other way.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
Tilt, 31, pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court to wilfully misconducting himself in public office.
From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2022
Tilt, of Barley Green, Birmingham, admitted wilfully misconducting himself in public office at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.
From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2022
Thus a lot of people are misconducting themselves like this, and would enjoy programming that makes them feel represented in the media.
From New York Times ● Nov. 29, 2017
"Quite fair," said the man; "if I've been misconducting myself in any manner——" "Don't mention it," said the colonel politely, "my friend here will apologise for handling you roughly, I'm sure; won't you, Mr. Silva?"
From Jack O' Judgment by Edgar Wallace
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.
