maladministration

/ˌmælədˌmɪnɪˈstɹeɪʃn̩/

//ˌmælədˌmɪnɪˈstɹeɪʃn̩// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"maladministration" is a 17-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“maladministration” is uncommon English (frequency #92,838 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#92,838
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Faulty, improper, or inefficient administration or management, especially by a government body; (countable) an instance of this.

Corpus desk

Index EN-maladministration · maladministration · English

maladministration · rank #92,838 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #92,838
  • LEN-MEGA 17 letters
  • VOW-7 7 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH majoritarian

Nearest frequency peer: majoritarian (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “maladministration”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “maladministration” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for maladministration
PropertyValue
Headwordmaladministration
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˌmælədˌmɪnɪˈstɹeɪʃn̩/
Letters17
Frequency rank#92,838
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “maladministration” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).maladministrationfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “majoritarian” (#92,837), “majolica” (#92,836), “manacles” (#92,840). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “maladministration” is #92,838. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

maladministration is uncommon English at frequency #92,838 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌmælədˌmɪnɪˈstɹeɪʃn̩/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

maladministration has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *h₂éd From mal- (prefix meaning ‘bad; badly’) + administration. The correct English form is maladministration, spelled M-A-L-A-D-M-I-N-I-S-T-R-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Faulty, improper, or inefficient administration or management, especially by a government body; (countable) an instance of this.
  2. 2
    An act of incorrectly administering a religious rite; also, a religious group that permits such a practice.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how maladministration appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Near-synonyms: mismanagement, misgovernance
  2. To combat maladministration and improve government efficiency, the ombudsman was established to function as an independent watchdog.

Etymology

PIE word *h₂éd From mal- (prefix meaning ‘bad; badly’) + administration.

This word in other languages

maladministration(Français)Misswirtschaft(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "maladministration"?
"maladministration" is spelled M-A-L-A-D-M-I-N-I-S-T-R-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌmælədˌmɪnɪˈstɹeɪʃn̩/.
What does "maladministration" mean?
As a noun, "maladministration" means: Faulty, improper, or inefficient administration or management, especially by a government body; (countable) an instance of this.
How do you pronounce "maladministration"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "maladministration" is /ˌmælədˌmɪnɪˈstɹeɪʃn̩/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "maladministration"?
PIE word *h₂éd From mal- (prefix meaning ‘bad; badly’) + administration. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "maladministration", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 17 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

psychotherapeutic#93,048temporomandibular#93,227thermodynamically#93,236misidentification#91,808

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list