nonfeasance

American  

[non-fee-zuhns] / nɒnˈfi zəns /

noun

Law.

1. the omission of some act that ought to have been performed.

---

nonfeasance British  

/ ˌnɒnˈfiːzəns /

noun

1. law a failure to act when under an obligation to do so Compare malfeasance misfeasance

---

Etymology

Origin of nonfeasance

1590–1600; non- + obsolete feasance; see malfeasance

Example Sentences

“The only question that remains is whether this is nonfeasance or malfeasance,” he said.

From Washington Times • Jul. 29, 2022

Mostly, they stood aside while the hard hats ran amok; examples of their nonfeasance abound.

From New York Times • Jul. 1, 2020

This Gil was incredibly easy to work for, to the point of complete nonfeasance.

From Washington Post • Jan. 23, 2015

But what have New Yorkers been if not blindsided by incessant malfeasance and nonfeasance in the state capital?

From New York Times • Mar. 8, 2010

The neglect which occasioned the damage might be a mere omission, and what was there akin to trespass in a nonfeasance to sustain the analogy upon which trespass on the case was founded?

From The Common Law by Holmes, Oliver Wendell