Standard Lemma guide

malformation

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M AE2 L F AO0 R M EY1 SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An abnormal formation.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An abnormal developmental feature of offspring.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, sciences, teratology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

something abnormal or anomalous

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: miscreation

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: failure

Narrower terms: monstrosity

4

noun

Meaning 4

an affliction in which some part of the body is misshapen or malformed

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deformity, misshapenness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: affliction

Narrower terms: Arnold-Chiari deformity, clawfoot, pes cavus, cleft foot, clubfoot, talipes, pigeon breast, chicken breast, plagiocephaly, scaphocephaly, valgus, varus

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Latin maleder. Old French mal- English mal- English formation English malformation From mal- + formation.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: деформация (deformacija) — abnormal formation
  • French: malformation — abnormal formation
  • Greek: διαμαρτία (diamartía) — abnormal formation
  • Greek: δυσμορφία (dysmorfía) — abnormal formation
  • Irish: míchuma — abnormal formation
  • Irish: anchuma — abnormal formation
  • Irish: éagruth — abnormal formation
  • Irish: mídhéanamh — abnormal formation
  • Italian: malformazione — abnormal formation
  • Norwegian Bokmål: misdannelse — abnormal formation
  • Piedmontese: malformassion — abnormal formation
  • Portuguese: malformação — abnormal formation
  • Portuguese: má-formação — abnormal formation
  • Spanish: malformación — abnormal formation
  • Bulgarian: уродливост (urodlivost) — (teratology) abnormal developmental feature of offspring
  • French: malformation — (teratology) abnormal developmental feature of offspring
  • French: difformité — (teratology) abnormal developmental feature of offspring
  • Greek: διαμαρτία (diamartía) — (teratology) abnormal developmental feature of offspring
  • Indonesian: malformasi — (teratology) abnormal developmental feature of offspring
  • Indonesian: malaformasi — (teratology) abnormal developmental feature of offspring
  • Portuguese: malformação — (teratology) abnormal developmental feature of offspring
  • Portuguese: má-formação — (teratology) abnormal developmental feature of offspring
  • Spanish: malformación — (teratology) abnormal developmental feature of offspring