Malus

//ˈmeɪ.ləs// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The loss or return of performance-related compensation originally paid by an employer to an employee as a result of the discovery of a defect in the performance.

    "When bank fired the loan originator, they recovered the last two years of her bonuses under the malus clause in her contract."

  2. 2
    A plant of the genus Malus (the apples).

    "It leads to a certain extent to an evergreen type Docynia which is distributed in the Himalayas and western China and whose magnificence of bloom I learned to know on my travels in Yunnan; it is distinct from genuine maluses."

  3. 3
    plural of malu form-of, plural
  4. 4
    A penalty or negative thing. rare

    "The driver game has a game screen with less number of properties and representations (see Fig. 3(a)). […] If the user completes a level within the allocated time, then the user gets a bonus and will be advanced to another level[,] and if user is unable to complete a level, then a malus is provided and the user gets retained in the same level."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Latin malus, by analogy with bonus (“additional compensation”). Doublet of mal.

Etymology 2

From Latin mālus and translingual Malus.

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