From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Abusive \A*bu"sive\, adjective [Cf. F. abusif, fr. L. abusivus.]
1. Wrongly used; perverted; misapplied.
I am . . . necessitated to use the word Parliament improperly, according to the abusive acceptation thereof. --Fuller.
2. Given to misusing; also, full of abuses. [Archaic] ''The abusive prerogatives of his see.'' --Hallam.
3. Practicing abuse; prone to ill treat by coarse, insulting words or by other ill usage; as, an abusive author; an abusive fellow.
4. Containing abuse, or serving as the instrument of abuse; vituperative; reproachful; scurrilous. ''An abusive lampoon.'' --Johnson.
5. Tending to deceive; fraudulent; cheating. [Obs.] ''An abusive treaty.'' --Bacon.
Syn: Reproachful; scurrilous; opprobrious; insolent; insulting; injurious; offensive; reviling.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: expressing offensive reproach [syn: {insulting}, {opprobrious}, {scornful}, {scurrilous}]
2: characterized by physical or psychological maltreatment; "abusive punishment"; "argued...that foster homes are abusive"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
122 Moby Thesaurus words for "abusive": Rabelaisian, atrocious, back-biting, backhand, backhanded, belittling, bitchy, blackening, blameful, blasphemous, bludgeoning, blustering, browbeating, brutal, bulldozing, bullying, calumniatory, calumnious, catty, censorious, comminatory, condemnatory, contemptuous, contumelious, corrupt, crooked, cruel, cursing, damnatory, defamatory, degrading, denunciatory, deprecative, deprecatory, depreciative, depreciatory, derisive, derisory, derogative, derogatory, destructive, detractory, dirty, dishonest, disparaging, dysphemistic, epithetic, excommunicative, excommunicatory, execrating, execrative, execratory, fear-inspiring, filthy, foreboding, foul, fulminatory, harmful, hectoring, humiliating, hurtful, imminent, imprecatory, improper, incorrect, injurious, insolent, insulting, intimidating, invective, inveighing, judgmental, left-handed, libelous, lowering, maledictory, maligning, menacing, minacious, minatory, minimizing, misapplied, objurgatory, obscene, odious, offending, offensive, ominous, opprobrious, outrageous, pejorative, perverted, priggish, profane, raw, reproachful, reprobative, reviling, ribald, ridiculing, risque, rude, scandalous, scatologic, scoffing, scurrile, scurrilous, slanderous, slighting, smutty, terroristic, terrorizing, threatening, threatful, truculent, unspeakable, venal, vile, vilifying, vituperative, vulgar, wrong
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0