adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A term or sentence element that serves a malefactive role or that is inflected for the malefactive case.

Adjective

1. 1
   Of or pertaining to the linguistic form or case or the semantic role of the person who is harmed or who loses out by an action. not-comparable

Antonyms

All antonyms

benefactive

Etymology

Parallel in formation with both malefactor and maleficent (which see). By surface analysis, Latin malefact(us) + -ive.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.