nonfeasance
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˌnɒnˈfiːzəns/
- Formal
:
inacción
- Due to the company's nonfeasance in following safety regulations, several accidents occurred.
- nonfeasance or misfeasance
Examples
-
And the administration, faculty senate, and university committee wholeheartedly approved this nonfeasance.
Academic text (1990) -
There has been a rise in malfeasance and nonfeasance by experts, says James Starrs, a professor of law and forensic sciences at George Washington University in St. Louis.
Academic text (1994) -
This definition is broad enough to include revelations of mismanagement, including nonfeasance, misfeasance, and malfeasance.
Academic text (1997) -
"If we believe that there is a moral duty to rescue, then there is a strong case that we should punish that moral failing in proportion to the offender's culpability and the harm their nonfeasance causes.
Blog text (16) -
A second issue with Silver's prescription is the apparent lack of proportionality between the punishment imposed for failure to rescue and the moral gravity of the nonfeasance.
Blog text (16) -
Courts at several levels have addressed in some manner the elements of negligence, either nonfeasance or misfeasance, as they rationalized their decisions: duty of care; breach of duty; injury (damage); and proximate cause.
Academic text (1991) -
However, this "injury" cannot be attributable to the negligence of educators unless it can be demonstrated that said negligence, either nonfeasance or misfeasance, as a proximate cause, was present and affected other students in the same class.
Academic text (1991) -
You want to be rescued from your own nonfeasance by having a state, already overloaded with debt, incapable of providing a true balanced budget—and unable to print money like the federal government—rescue you like a fairy prince.
Blog text (23) -
The city's nonfeasance in maintaining public parks has led to their deterioration.
-
The teacher's nonfeasance in reporting the bullying incident was troubling for the students.
Synonyms
39
4.9
Not doing anything when something should be done
16
8.4
Not doing a duty you must do
1
5.1
Not doing important tasks you must do at work
Not doing anything when you should do something, often making the problem worse
Not following a law, rule, or custom
Surface Forms
Morphology
nonfeasance = feasance (transparent) = non + feasance
Formed by the negative prefix 'non-' + 'feasance' (performance); if a learner knows 'feasance' they can readily infer 'nonfeasance' as failure to perform.
Etymology
Nonfeasance comes from the parts non- ('not') and feasance, which comes from Latin facere meaning 'to do', and is like the word feasible ('able to be done'). So nonfeasance literally means 'not doing', which is why it describes failing to do something you are legally required to do.