as in to lazy
to pretend to be sick or injured in order to avoid doing work
Because of his frequent absences, his boss suspected he was malingering.
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Recent Examples of malinger
The entire day felt dehumanizing, as if her nearly eight years with the company, her medical problems and her physical pain had been reduced to nothing more than malingering and scattered incidents of tardiness.
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Greg Jaffe, Anchorage Daily News, 18 June 2023
Goldstein, who did not return a message seeking comment, practices in Chicago and has lectured on the topic of malingering, according to a resume posted online.
—Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2023
But when workers take advantage of the manager’s kindly nature to malinger or disrupt operations, the entire business is threatened.
—Bill Conerly, Forbes, 19 Jan. 2022
The decision against Robert Krebs came after a psychologist determined Krebs didn’t have a mental illness or cognitive impairment and was instead malingering to avoid prosecution for the robbery last year in Tucson.
—Jacques Billeaud, BostonGlobe.com, 24 June 2019
On Monday, prosecutor Stuart Silberg said Ms. Ortega could have been malingering, or faking her psychiatric state.
—Corinne Ramey, WSJ, 31 July 2017
The question is obviously especially consequential when deeming a person malingering means they could be put to death.
—James Hamblin, The Atlantic, 5 May 2017
Greg Jaffe, Anchorage Daily News, 18 June 2023
Goldstein, who did not return a message seeking comment, practices in Chicago and has lectured on the topic of malingering, according to a resume posted online.
—Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2023
But when workers take advantage of the manager’s kindly nature to malinger or disrupt operations, the entire business is threatened.
—Bill Conerly, Forbes, 19 Jan. 2022
The decision against Robert Krebs came after a psychologist determined Krebs didn’t have a mental illness or cognitive impairment and was instead malingering to avoid prosecution for the robbery last year in Tucson.
—Jacques Billeaud, BostonGlobe.com, 24 June 2019
On Monday, prosecutor Stuart Silberg said Ms. Ortega could have been malingering, or faking her psychiatric state.
—Corinne Ramey, WSJ, 31 July 2017
The question is obviously especially consequential when deeming a person malingering means they could be put to death.
—James Hamblin, The Atlantic, 5 May 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malinger
Verb
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Our asphalt arrival gate was on the total opposite end of our idling overseas plane.Denise Snodell, Kansas City Star, 15 Jan. 2025
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Four of the company’s football production trucks, which house the wires, cable and servers to air NFL games, were idled close to Kingman, Ariz., last Tuesday night as everyone waited for the NFL to make a decision on the venue.Richard Deitsch, The Athletic, 14 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Picture a disheveled gambler, with his empty pockets sticking out, trying to bum a smoke from someone on the Las Vegas strip.Jay Paris, Forbes, 3 Jan. 2025
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When someone in the music industry told him that Deconstruction had already broken up, the news deeply bummed him out.Aaron Gilbreath, SPIN, 31 Dec. 2024
Verb
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The attackers disguise themselves as fake Google Ads login pages to fool advertisers, who are then phished for their account credentials.Davey Winder, Forbes, 16 Jan. 2025
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However, others have questioned how she was so easily fooled.Michael Gfoeller And David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025
Verb
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Some big studios completely changed their films very close to the finish line, which sometimes can mess things up.Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Jan. 2025
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The most successful, or at least fascinating, of these movies tends to mess in one way or another with his seemingly carefree relationship to notions of authenticity or identity.Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times, 29 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near malinger
Cite this Entry
“Malinger.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malinger. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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