noun
Meaning 1
Faulty functioning.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: dysfunction, misfunction
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
malfunction
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.
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Received-Pronunciation, US: /ˌmælˈfʌŋk.ʃən/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ʌŋkʃən
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CMU ARPABET: M AE0 L F AH1 NG K SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Failure to function.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To function improperly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- She told him the machine was poorly built, but they both knew that she was the one who had malfunctioned.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To fail to function.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
a failure to function normally
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: failure
Narrower terms: blowout, stall
verb
Meaning 6
fail to function or function improperly
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the coffee maker malfunctioned
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: misfunction
Antonyms: function
Broader terms: fail, go bad, give way, die, give out, conk out, go, break, break down
Narrower terms: jam
History
Etymology
From mal- (“bad, incorrect”) + function.
Across languages
Translations
65 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: неизправност (neizpravnost) — faulty functioning
- Chinese Mandarin: 故障 (gùzhàng) — faulty functioning
- Dutch: slechte werking — faulty functioning
- Esperanto: malfunkciado — faulty functioning
- Finnish: toimintahäiriö — faulty functioning
- Finnish: virhetoiminta — faulty functioning
- French: défaut de fonctionnement — faulty functioning
- Galician: mal funcionamento — faulty functioning
- German: Fehlfunktion — faulty functioning
- German: Funktionsstörung — faulty functioning
- Greek: δυσλειτουργία (dysleitourgía) — faulty functioning
- Italian: malfunzionamento — faulty functioning
- Japanese: 故障 (koshō) — faulty functioning
- Korean: 고장 (gojang) — faulty functioning
- Māori: turingongengonge — faulty functioning
- Polish: wadliwe działanie — faulty functioning
- Portuguese: mau funcionamento — faulty functioning
- Portuguese: funcionamento defeituoso — faulty functioning
- Russian: неиспра́вность (neisprávnostʹ) — faulty functioning
- Russian: сбой (sboj) — faulty functioning
- Spanish: funcionamiento defectuoso — faulty functioning
- Spanish: malfuncionamiento — faulty functioning
- Spanish: mal funcionamiento — faulty functioning
- Spanish: falla — faulty functioning
- Spanish: fallo — faulty functioning
- Tagalog: salang-kimot — faulty functioning
- Tagalog: pagsalang-kimot — faulty functioning
- Turkish: arıza — faulty functioning
- Ukrainian: неспра́вність (nesprávnistʹ) — faulty functioning
- Ukrainian: збій (zbij) — faulty functioning
- Ukrainian: непола́дка (nepoládka) — faulty functioning
- Vietnamese: trục trặc — faulty functioning
- Bulgarian: повреда (povreda) — failure to function
- Dutch: stuk zijn — failure to function
- Dutch: storing — failure to function
- Finnish: toimintahäiriö — failure to function
- French: défaut de fonctionnement — failure to function
- Galician: avaría — failure to function
- German: Fehlfunktion — failure to function
- German: Funktionsstörung — failure to function
- Greek: δυσλειτουργία (dysleitourgía) — failure to function
- Italian: malfunzionamento — failure to function
- Māori: turingongengonge — failure to function
- Polish: awaria — failure to function
- Portuguese: não-funcionamento — failure to function
- Russian: поло́мка (polómka) — failure to function
- Dutch: haperen — to function improperly
- Finnish: toimia huonosti — to function improperly
- German: nicht funktionieren — to function improperly
- Icelandic: bila — to function improperly
- Polish: wadliwie działać — to function improperly
- Russian: пло́хо рабо́тать (plóxo rabótatʹ) — to function improperly
- Russian: барахли́ть (baraxlítʹ) — to function improperly
- Spanish: funcionar / funcar mal / malamente — to function improperly
- Spanish: fallar — to function improperly
- Swedish: krångla — to function improperly
- Turkish: arızalanmak — to function improperly
- Welsh: camweithio — to function improperly
- ǃXóõ: ǁʻàa — to function improperly
- German: nicht funktionieren — to fail to function
- Korean: 고장이 나다 (gojang'i nada) — to fail to function
- Polish: nie działać — to fail to function
- Russian: не рабо́тать (ne rabótatʹ) — to fail to function
- Welsh: pallu gweithio — to fail to function
- ǃXóõ: ǁʻàa — to fail to function
Real reading context