 4 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
abuse
noun
1: cruel or inhumane treatment [syn: {maltreatment}, {ill-treatment},
{ill-usage}]
2: 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" [syn: {insult},
{revilement}, {contumely}, {vilification}]
3: improper or excessive use [syn: {misuse}]
verb
1: treat badly; "This boss abuses his workers"; "She is always
stepping on others to get ahead" [syn: {mistreat}, {maltreat},
{ill-use}, {step}, {ill-treat}]
2: 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"
[syn: {pervert}, {misuse}]
3: use foul or abusive language towards; "The actress abused
the policeman who gave her a parking ticket"; "The angry
mother shouted at the teacher" [syn: {clapperclaw}, {blackguard},
{shout}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abuse \A*buse"\, noun [F. abus, L. abusus, fr. abuti. See {Abuse},
verb (used with an object)]
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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abuse \A*buse"\, verb (used with an object) [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.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
274 Moby Thesaurus words for "abuse":
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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