Standard Lemma guide

wrongdoing

noun · verb · 5 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.

  • /ˈɹɒŋˌduːɪŋ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R AO1 NG D UW0 IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Violation of standards of behavior.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Examples

  • A Chinese proverb goes, "He who commits wrongdoing repeatedly will come to no good end."

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: baseness, degeneracy, wickedness, corruption, defilement, degradation, depravation, depravedness, depravity, impurity, iniquity, lewdity, malignity, misdoing, misguilt, obliquity, peccability, perversion, pollution, pravity, sin, sinfulness, turpitude, vitiation, wrongdoing

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An instance of doing wrong.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: misdeed, misdoing, sin, crime, delict, delinquency, error, malfeasance, misdemeanor, offense, peccadillo, tort, tortfeasance, transgression, veniality, villainy, wrong, wrongdoing

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

present participle and gerund of wrongdo

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

activity that transgresses moral or civil law

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he denied any wrongdoing

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: wrongful conduct, misconduct, actus reus

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: activity

Narrower terms: brutalization, brutalisation, trespass, encroachment, violation, intrusion, usurpation, tort, civil wrong, malversation, misbehavior, misbehaviour, misdeed, dereliction, malfeasance, misfeasance, malpractice, perversion, injury, injustice, unfairness, iniquity, shabbiness, infliction, transgression, evildoing, dishonesty, knavery, falsification, misrepresentation, champerty, maintenance, criminal maintenance, infringement

5

noun

Meaning 5

departure from what is ethically acceptable

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: error

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: evil, evilness

History

Etymology

From Middle English wrong doyng, wrong doynge, wrong doinge, equivalent to wrong + doing.

Across languages

Translations

42 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: закононарушение (zakononarušenie) — violation of standards
  • Bulgarian: нарушение (narušenie) — violation of standards
  • Egyptian: E9-w-i-i-t:nDs:Z2 (jwyt) — violation of standards
  • Finnish: rikkomus — violation of standards
  • Finnish: pahanteko — violation of standards
  • French: malfaisance — violation of standards
  • German: Fehlverhalten — violation of standards
  • Greek: παράπτωμα (paráptoma) — violation of standards
  • Greek: αμάρτημα (amártima) — violation of standards
  • Italian: illecito — violation of standards
  • Italian: violazione — violation of standards
  • Polish: naruszenie — violation of standards
  • Portuguese: malfeitoria — violation of standards
  • Portuguese: transgressão — violation of standards
  • Russian: правонаруше́ние (pravonarušénije) — violation of standards
  • Spanish: fechoría — violation of standards
  • Spanish: maldad — violation of standards
  • Spanish: ilícito — violation of standards
  • Ottoman Turkish: ظلم (zulm, zulüm) — violation of standards
  • Bulgarian: простъпка (prostǎpka) — instance of doing wrong
  • Bulgarian: провинение (provinenie) — instance of doing wrong
  • Bulgarian: злосторство (zlostorstvo) — instance of doing wrong
  • Finnish: pahanteko — instance of doing wrong
  • French: malfaisance — instance of doing wrong
  • French: méfait — instance of doing wrong
  • Galician: malfeito — instance of doing wrong
  • Galician: falcatrúa — instance of doing wrong
  • Greek: αδίκημα (adíkima) — instance of doing wrong
  • Italian: malefatta — instance of doing wrong
  • Italian: iniquità — instance of doing wrong
  • Italian: ingiustizia — instance of doing wrong
  • Italian: malcostume — instance of doing wrong
  • Polish: naruszenie — instance of doing wrong
  • Portuguese: malfeitoria — instance of doing wrong
  • Portuguese: malfeito — instance of doing wrong
  • Portuguese: maldade — instance of doing wrong
  • Russian: просту́пок (prostúpok) — instance of doing wrong
  • Spanish: maldad — instance of doing wrong
  • Spanish: iniquidad — instance of doing wrong
  • Spanish: infamia — instance of doing wrong
  • Ottoman Turkish: ظلم (zulm, zulüm) — instance of doing wrong
  • Unami: mahchilësëwakàn — instance of doing wrong