What does malingery mean?
Malingery means the practice of pretending to be ill or injured in order to escape an obligation. Its clearest traditional application is the avoidance of military service: historically, authorities suspected malingery when recruits claimed illnesses that prevented them from performing their duties. The word can also refer to similar deception in employment, education, insurance, or other contexts where a person seeks exemption from a responsibility. Malingery is generally treated as deliberate and potentially fraudulent, rather than as an occasional exaggeration of genuine discomfort. Although the noun conveys the practice in general, an individual suspected of doing it is called a malingerer, and the corresponding action or behaviour is commonly described as malingering. The word is formal and relatively uncommon in modern English, but it remains useful for naming a recognizable form of deception. Its associations with military history and with the deliberate performance of symptoms give it a particular historical and cultural resonance.
nounThe practice or act of pretending to be ill or injured, especially in order to avoid work, military service, or another obligation.
- The practice of feigning illness or injury to avoid an obligation, especially work or military service.
"The officer suspected malingery when the soldier repeatedly claimed to be too ill to train."
"The clinic reported several cases of malingery among workers seeking sick leave."
"His repeated disappearances and theatrical symptoms suggested malingery rather than genuine illness."
The regular plural is rarely needed because the word itself is uncommon.
"The memoir describes several instances of malingery among the regiment's recruits."
Malingery is the elaborate performance of illness designed to make avoiding duty look convincingly genuine.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of malingery
Malingery was formed in English by adding the suffix -y to the French-derived verb malinger, meaning to pretend illness. Its relatives malingering and malingerer belong to the same word family and express the behaviour and the person responsible for it, respectively.
Related word forms
How malingery is actually used
This is a rare formal noun. The much more common contemporary forms are the gerund 'malingering' and the noun 'malingerer'.