Bug
Bug noun - A person with a strong and habitual liking for something.
Malfunction and bug are semantically related In some cases you can use "Malfunction" instead a noun "Bug".
Malfunction
Malfunction noun - A failure to function normally.
Bug and malfunction are semantically related in breakdown topic. You can use "Bug" instead a noun "Malfunction".
Nearby Words: malfunctioning, malfunctioned
Mutual synonyms
How words are described
| exact | exact bug | exact malfunction |
| similar | similar bug | similar malfunction |
| single | single bug | single malfunction |
| simple | simple bug | simple malfunction |
| Other adjectives: actual, real, severe, massive, serious, unfortunate, slight, bad, infamous, early, major, possible, minor, fatal, random, last. | ||
Common collocations
| times | bug times | malfunction times |
Both words in one sentence
- He didn't kill a human due to a malfunction or a programming bug.
-
Deal with the Devil: Pincer offers Bug the chance to become a human through use of a brain leech that can psychically link him to the mind of a Starship Ranger (who is brain-dead due to a malfunction in a cryotube that was in a starship crash 18 years prior, but whose body is still very much alive).
Source: Theatre / Starship -
Arale, the Robot Girl he invented, was designed with flawed eyesight and literally Earth-shattering super-strength, and she's such an extreme Cloud Cuckoolander that the one time a literal bug ended up causing her to malfunction, she started acting perfectly normal (by human standards).
Source: Bungling Inventor
Cite this Source
Malfunction and Bug. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 15, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/bug/malfunction
Bug & Malfunction. N.p., 2016. Web. 15 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/bug/malfunction>.
Malfunction or Bug. 2016. Accessed August 15, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/bug/malfunction.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "bug" and "malfunction" have occurred on timeline