ABUSE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Abuse

/əbjˈus/ /əbjˈuz/ Listen

Abuse

noun

1.

Cruel or inhumane treatment. Synonyms: ill-treatment, ill-usage, maltreatment.

2.

A rude expression intended to offend or hurt. Synonyms: contumely, insult, revilement, vilification. "They yelled insults at the visiting team"

3.

Improper or excessive use. Synonym: misuse. "The abuse of public funds"

verb

(past & past part. abused; pres. part. abusing)

1.

Treat badly. Synonyms: ill-treat, ill-use, maltreat, mistreat, step. "She is always stepping on others to get ahead"

2.

Change the inherent purpose or function of something. Synonyms: misuse, pervert. "The director of the factory misused the funds intended for the health care of his workers"

3.

Use foul or abusive language towards. Synonyms: blackguard, clapperclaw, shout. "The angry mother shouted at the teacher"

4.

Use wrongly or improperly or excessively. "While she was pregnant, she abused drugs"

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Related searches:

alcoholic abuse

alcoholism abuse

substance abuse

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Abuse" Quotes from Famous Books

... he spoke, the emperor kept advancing until he came close upon the kettle and its tempting contents; but the peasant-woman pushed him rudely back, and thrusting her broad person between himself and the coveted pot, she looked defiance at him, and broke out into a torrent of abuse. ...

— Joseph II. and His Court • L. Muhlbach

... most discordant, it was impossible to eradicate from the minds of any order the vast and stirring memories of the past. New rights might, indeed, be claimed; but it was not alleged that there had been any abuse of the old. Nothing had occurred to weaken the esteem with which the lower ranks were accustomed to regard the ancient aristocracy of the country; and accordingly, throughout the whole of that protracted contest, fervid and determined as it was, there was less rancour shown than might ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 347, September, 1844 • Various

... O sun that warms me! Am I not thine to use and abuse at thy sweet pleasure? Pour salt upon the heart thou woundest; since it is thy hand I'll never murmur a complaint. But heed me—heed my words; or since words are of no account with thee, then heed his deeds which I am drawing to thy tardy notice. Heed ...

— The Sea-Hawk • Raphael Sabatini

... Whose Fabrick tho' 'twas built of Wood, Had many Springs and Winters stood; When sturdy Oaks, and lofty Pines Were level'd with (cc) Musmillion Vines, And Plants eradicated were, By Hurricanes into the air; There with good Punch and Apple Juice, We spent our Hours without abuse; Till Midnight in her sable Vest, Persuaded Gods and Men to rest; And with a pleasing kind surprize, Indulg'd soft Slumbers to my Eyes. Fierce (dd) AEthon courser of the Sun, Had half his Race ...

— The Sot-weed Factor: or, A Voyage to Maryland • Ebenezer Cook

... writers have suffered more injustice in popular estimation than Chesterfield. Even putting aside the abuse by which, as above mentioned, Johnson showed (on Fluellen's principles convincingly) that he had more in common with the Goddess Juno than the J in both their names—that is to say an insanabile vulnus ...

— A Letter Book - Selected with an Introduction on the History and Art of Letter-Writing • George Saintsbury

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