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Meaning of ABUSE

Pronunciation:  [n]u'byoos, [v]u'byooz, u'bjuz

WordNet Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. [n]  cruel or inhumane treatment
  2. [n]  improper or excessive use
  3. [n]  a rude expression intended to offend or hurt; "when a student made a stupid mistake he spared them no abuse"; "they yelled insults at the visiting team"
  4. [v]  change the inherent purpose or function of something; "Don't abuse the system"; "The director of the factory misused the funds intended for the health care of his workers"
  5. [v]  use foul or abusive language towards; "The actress abused the policeman who gave her a parking ticket"; "The angry mother shouted at the teacher"
  6. [v]  treat badly; "This boss abuses his workers"
 
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 Synonyms: blackguard, clapperclaw, contumely, ill-treat, ill-treatment, ill-usage, ill-use, insult, maltreat, maltreatment, mistreat, misuse, misuse, pervert, revilement, shout, vilification
 
 See Also: assail, assault, attack, billingsgate, child abuse, child neglect, cruelty, curse, cut, discourtesy, disrespect, do by, drug abuse, employment, exercise, expend, fracture, habit, handle, inhuman treatment, invective, kick around, lash out, low blow, mistreatment, persecution, rail, revile, round, scurrility, slang, snipe, stinger, substance abuse, take in vain, treat, usage, use, use, utilisation, utilization, vilify, vitriol, vituperate, vituperation

 

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary
 
 Definition: 
  1. \A*buse"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Abused}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Abusing}.] [F. abuser; L. abusus, p. p. of abuti to abuse,
misuse; ab + uti to use. See {Use}.]
1. To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to put to a
   bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert;
   as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of;
   as, to abuse one's authority.
         This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots
         rapidly into popularity.              --Froude.
2. To use ill; to maltreat; to act injuriously to; to punish
   or to tax excessively; to hurt; as, to abuse prisoners, to
   abuse one's powers, one's patience.
3. To revile; to reproach coarsely; to disparage.
         The . . . tellers of news abused the general.
                                               --Macaulay.
4. To dishonor. ``Shall flight abuse your name?'' --Shak.
5. To violate; to ravish. --Spenser.
6. To deceive; to impose on. [Obs.]
         Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist
         cloud, and abused by a double object. --Jer. Taylor.
Syn: To maltreat; injure; revile; reproach; vilify;
     vituperate; asperse; traduce; malign.

  2. \A*buse"\, n. [F. abus, L. abusus, fr. abuti. See {Abuse},
v. t.]
1. Improper treatment or use; application to a wrong or bad
   purpose; misuse; as, an abuse of our natural powers; an
   abuse of civil rights, or of privileges or advantages; an
   abuse of language.
         Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty,
         as well as by the abuses of power.    --Madison.
2. Physical ill treatment; injury. ``Rejoice . . . at the
   abuse of Falstaff.'' --Shak.
3. A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as,
   the abuses in the civil service.
         Abuse after disappeared without a struggle..
                                               --Macaulay.
4. Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive
   language; virulent condemnation; reviling.
         The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of
         abuse, came to blows.                 --Macaulay.
5. Violation; rape; as, abuse of a female child. [Obs.]
         Or is it some abuse, and no such thing? --Shak.
{Abuse of distress} (Law), a wrongful using of an animal or
   chattel distrained, by the distrainer.
Syn: Invective; contumely; reproach; scurrility; insult;
     opprobrium.
Usage: {Abuse}, {Invective}. Abuse is generally prompted by
       anger, and vented in harsh and unseemly words. It is
       more personal and coarse than invective. Abuse
       generally takes place in private quarrels; invective
       in writing or public discussions. Invective may be
       conveyed in refined language and dictated by
       indignation against what is blameworthy. --C. J.
       Smith.
 
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Thesaurus Terms
 
 Related Terms: abuse of office, addiction, afflict, aggrieve, assail, assailing, assault, atrocity, attack, bark at, batter, befoul, befoulment, belittle, berate, berating, betongue, betray, betrayal, bewitch, billingsgate, bitter words, blacken, blackening, blackguard, blaspheme, bleed, bleed white, blight, bruise, buffet, call names, calumniate, calumniation, calumny, catachresis, censure, condemn, contumely, conversion, convert, corrupt, corrupt administration, corruption, criminal assault, crucify, curse, cursing, cuss out, damage, damn, debase, debasement, debauch, debauchment, deceive, decry, defalcate, defalcation, defamation, defame, defile, defilement, defloration, deflower, deflowering, dependence, deprave, deprecate, depreciate, derogate, desecrate, desecration, despoil, despoilment, destroy, detract from, diatribe, disadvantage, discount, disparage, dispraise, disserve, distress, diversion, divert, do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do violence to, do wrong, do wrong by, do wrong to, doom, drain, embezzle, embezzlement, envenom, epithet, epithetize, execrate, execration, exploit, fault, force, foul, fouling, fulminate against, get into trouble, harass, hard words, harm, hex, hurt, ill use, ill-treat, ill-treatment, ill-usage, ill-use, impair, impose, impose upon, imprecation, infect, injure, injury, insult, invective, jaw, jawing, jeremiad, jinx, knock about, lambaste, lead astray, libel, load with reproaches, make use of, maladminister, maladministration, malediction, malfeasance, malign, maligning, malpractice, maltreat, maltreatment, malversation, manhandle, manipulate, mar, masturbation, maul, menace, mess up, milk, minimize, misapplication, misapply, misappropriate, misappropriation, misconduct, misemploy, misemployment, misfeasance, mishandle, mishandling, mislead, mismanage, mismanagement, mistreat, mistreatment, misusage, misuse, molest, molestation, mud, objurgate, objurgation, obloquy, onslaught, oppress, opprobrium, outrage, peculate, peculation, persecute, perversion, pervert, philippic, pilfer, pilfering, play havoc with, play hob with, play on, poison, pollute, pollution, poor stewardship, prejudice, presume upon, priapism, profanation, profane, profanity, prostitute, prostitution, rag, rail at, railing, rape, rate, rating, ravage, rave against, ravish, ravishment, rebuke, reproach, revile, revilement, reviling, rough, rough up, ruin, savage, scathe, scold, scolding, screed, scurrility, seduce, seducement, seduction, self-abuse, sexual assault, slander, soil, spoil, stroke, suck dry, sully, swear, swear at, swearing, taint, take advantage of, threaten, thunder against, tirade, tongue-lash, tongue-lashing, torment, torture, traduce, upbraid, upbraiding, use, use ill, vilification, vilify, violate, violation, violence, vituperate, vituperation, work on, work upon, wound, wreak havoc on, write off, wrong, yell at, yelp at
 

 

 

 

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