Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who has committed a crime; a criminal.
  • noun A wrongdoer or evildoer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who does evil or injury to another: opposed to benefactor.
  • noun A heinous evil-doer; a law-breaker; a criminal or felon.
  • noun Synonyms Evil-doer, culprit, felon, convict.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An evil doer; one who commits a crime; one subject to public prosecution and punishment; a criminal.
  • noun One who does wrong by injuring another, although not a criminal. Opposite of benefactor.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A criminal or felon.
  • noun An evildoer.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English malefactour, from Latin malefactor, from malefacere, to do wrong : male, ill; see mel- in Indo-European roots + facere, to do; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin male ("ill") + facere ("to do").

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Examples

  • Dead in law, as a condemned malefactor is called a dead man because he is under a sentence of death; so sinners by the guilt of sin are under the sentence of the law and condemned already, John iii.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation) 1721

  • Sinners are dead in state, being destitute of the principles, and powers of spiritual life; and cut off from God, the fountain of life: and they are dead in law, as a condemned malefactor is said to be a dead man.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation) 1721

  • Now the business of a judge with a malefactor is to convict him of his crimes, and then to pass sentence upon him for them.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721

  • That she shall be exposed to shame: Thy lewdness and thy whoredoms shall be discovered (v. 29), as, when a malefactor is punished, all his crimes are ripped up, and repeated to his disgrace; what was secret then comes to light, and what was done long since is then called to mind.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721

  • When people clamor for justice in Israel but ignore massacres in Syria, Libya, starvation in North Korea, on and on -- are they interested in criticizing only if the malefactor is a Jew?

    Rabbi David Wolpe: Is It Anti-Semitism? Rabbi David Wolpe 2011

  • When people clamor for justice in Israel but ignore massacres in Syria, Libya, starvation in North Korea, on and on -- are they interested in criticizing only if the malefactor is a Jew?

    Rabbi David Wolpe: Is It Anti-Semitism? Rabbi David Wolpe 2011

  • When people clamor for justice in Israel but ignore massacres in Syria, Libya, starvation in North Korea, on and on -- are they interested in criticizing only if the malefactor is a Jew?

    Rabbi David Wolpe: Is It Anti-Semitism? Rabbi David Wolpe 2011

  • When people clamor for justice in Israel but ignore massacres in Syria, Libya, starvation in North Korea, on and on -- are they interested in criticizing only if the malefactor is a Jew?

    Rabbi David Wolpe: Is It Anti-Semitism? Rabbi David Wolpe 2011

  • He saw himself as the shepherd dog does; until he had rounded him up the malefactor was his private responsibility, to be protected as well as cornered.

    The Tiger in the Smoke Allingham, Margery, 1904-1966 1952

  • In this instance the malefactor was a woman, not a man, and her name was Grizel Cochrane, member of (or at least sprung from) a noble family, which later produced one of the most famous seamen in the annals of naval history.

    Stories of the Border Marches Jeanie Lang

Comments

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  • "Anonymous malefactors made death threats and hurled a brick through the kitchen window."

    The New York Times, The Trolls Among Us, by Mattathias Schwartz, August 3, 2008

    August 1, 2008

  • Oh dear, from his vantage point at the Times, John is drifting farther and farther into the future.

    August 2, 2008

  • All hail the slack bastard!! *bows*

    August 2, 2008

  • Maybe he'll spring back over the weekend.

    August 2, 2008

  • August 3, 2008???

    August 2, 2008

  • Dontcry, see the discussion at metonic calendar.

    August 2, 2008

  • Ohhhhh. Nevermind.

    August 2, 2008

  • Neither testosterone, nor the Y chromosome, though both may have some relation to the person this word describes.

    June 17, 2010