Definition

Verb: - To pretend to be ill or to exaggerate minor physical or mental symptoms in order to avoid work, duty, or responsibility.

Usage

This verb describes the deliberate act of feigning sickness. It is typically used in contexts involving work, military service, school, or other obligations. The word carries a negative connotation, implying deception and laziness. - Common Structures: "to malinger," "to be malingering," "accused of malingering." - Typical Subjects: An employee, a soldier, a student, a patient.

Examples

• The sergeant suspected the soldier was malingering to avoid the grueling training exercise.
• She was fired for malingering; her manager found evidence she was perfectly healthy on the days she called in sick.
• It is difficult for doctors to prove when a patient is malingering.

Advanced Usage

• Malingerer (noun): A person who malingers.
  • The company has a strict policy for dealing with habitual malingerers.
• The concept is often discussed in medical, legal, and occupational health contexts to distinguish genuine illness from fabricated or exaggerated claims.

Variants and Related Words

• Feign illness: A common phrase with a similar meaning.
• Shirk: To avoid or neglect (a duty or responsibility). While "shirk" is broader, "malinger" specifically involves pretending to be ill.
• Goldbrick (informal): To shirk duty or malinger.

Synonyms

• Feign sickness
• Pretend to be ill
• Shirk (in the specific context of using illness as an excuse)

Antonyms

• Serve diligently
• Fulfill one's duties
• Report for duty

Idioms and Phrases

• To cry wolf (by malingering): While not a direct idiom for malingering, repeated false claims of illness can be described with this idiom, meaning to raise a false alarm so often that you are not believed when truly needed.
  • By malingering so frequently, he was essentially crying wolf, and no one believed him when he actually got the flu.

Verb

1. avoid responsibilities and duties, e.g., by pretending to be ill