Meaning & use
malpractice
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
Failure by a professional to follow accepted standards, causing injury, loss, or harm to a patient or client.
Grammar: No article in general use: accused of malpractice, not a malpractice.
Patterns
- malpractice by someone
- malpractice in something
- sue someone for malpractice
- a malpractice claim
The family sued the hospital for malpractice after the surgery error.
Her license was suspended because of repeated malpractice in dental care.
The lawyer settled a malpractice claim without admitting fault.
Common combinations
- medical malpractice
- The case involved alleged medical malpractice during childbirth.
- legal malpractice
- A missed court deadline can lead to legal malpractice.
- malpractice lawsuit
- The insurer settled the malpractice lawsuit before trial.
- allegations of malpractice
- Allegations of malpractice were referred to the state board.
Synonyms and how they differ
- negligence
- Negligence is broader: anyone can be negligent, while malpractice is professional negligence.
- misconduct
- Misconduct stresses improper or unethical behavior and may not involve failing a standard of care.
- incompetence
- Incompetence means lacking skill, but malpractice requires harm linked to substandard professional conduct.
Opposites
Word family
- practice noun
- The expected method of working in a profession; malpractice is seriously bad practice.
Commonly confused: malpractice or male practice?
malpractice vs male practice
Malpractice is one word; male practice would wrongly suggest a practice for men.
Practice
Choose the natural completion: “The patient accused the surgeon ___ malpractice.”
Choose one answer.
The fixed pattern is accuse someone of malpractice. For fits sue someone for malpractice, not accuse.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “malpractice”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.