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nonfeasance

[non-fee-zuh ns]
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noun Law.
  1. the omission of some act that ought to have been performed.Compare malfeasance, misfeasance(def 2).
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Origin of nonfeasance

1590–1600; non- + obsolete feasance; see malfeasance
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for nonfeasance

omission, bomb, downfall, deficiency, dereliction, wreck, bankruptcy, turkey, decline, lemon, botch, stoppage, rout, misadventure, inadequacy, bust, flop, deficit, checkmate, overthrow

Examples from the Web for nonfeasance

Historical Examples of nonfeasance

  • More important was the nonfeasance of the Inquisition with respect to simony.

    A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages; volume III

    Henry Charles Lea

  • It was settled that assumpsit would lie for a mere omission or nonfeasance.

    The Common Law

    Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

British Dictionary definitions for nonfeasance

nonfeasance

noun
  1. law a failure to act when under an obligation to do soCompare malfeasance, misfeasance
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Word Origin for nonfeasance

C16: from non- + feasance (obsolete) performing or doing, from French faisance, from faire to do, from Latin facere
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for nonfeasance

n.

also non-feasance, "failure to do what should be done," 1590s, from non- + feasance.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper