Dictionary Definition
abuse
Noun
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]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- RP:
- /əˈbjuːs/
- /@"bju:s/
- US:
- /əˈbjus/
- /@"bjus/
Noun
- Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or
bad purpose; misuse; perversion.
- Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power. - Madison
- Physical maltreatment; injury.
- Sexual assault; violation; rape.
- An unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime; fault.
- Coarse, insulting speech; abusive language.
- The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows. - Macaulay
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
improper usage
- Danish: misbrug
- Dutch: misbruik , verkeerd gebruik
- Finnish: väärinkäyttö
- French: abus
- German: Missbrauch (or Mißbrauch)
- Greek: κατάχρηση
- Hebrew: ניצול לרעה
- Hindi: दुरूपयोग
- Italian: abuso
- Japanese: 濫用
- Norwegian: misbruk
- Polish: nadużycie
- Portuguese: abuso
- Russian: злоупотребление
- Swedish: missbruk
- Tagalog: abuso
physical maltreatment
- Danish: mishandling
- Dutch: mishandeling
- Finnish: pahoinpitely
- French: abus
- German: Misshandlung (alternative Mißhandlung)
- Greek: κακομεταχείριση (kakometacheírisi)
- Hebrew: התעללות
- Italian: abuso, violenza
- Norwegian: mishandling
- Portuguese: abuso
- Russian: издевательство (izdevátel’stvo)
- Swedish: misshandel
- Tagalog: abuso, pagmamalupit
sexual assault
- Czech: zneužití
- Danish: seksuelt misbrug
- Dutch: misbruik
- Finnish: hyväksikäyttö, seksuaalinen hyväksikäyttö
- French: viole
- German: Missbrauch (alternative Mißbrauch)
- Hebrew: תקיפה מינית
- Italian: abuso sessuale, violenza carnale
- Norwegian: voldtekt
- Portuguese: abuso
- Tagalog: abuso, panggagahasa
a corrupt practice
- Dutch: misbruik
- Finnish: väärinkäyttö
- French: abus
- German: Missbrauch (alternative Mißbrauch)
- Greek: κατάχρηση
- Italian: abuso
- Norwegian: misbruk
- Portuguese: abuso
- Tagalog: abuso
insulting speech
- Dutch: beschimpingen
- Finnish: solvaus, herjaus
- Greek: βρισιές f|p
- Hebrew: השתלחות
- Hindi: अपशब्द rfscript Devanagari
- Norwegian: utskjelling
- Portuguese: abuso
- Russian: оскорбление, брань, ругань
- Tagalog: abuso
Translations to be categorised
Pronunciation
- RP:
- /əˈbjuːz/
- /@"bju:z</
- US:
- /əˈbjuz/
- /@"bjuz/
Verb
- To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to use improperly; to misuse; to use for a wrong
purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse one's
authority.
- This principle (if one may so abuse the word) shoots rapidly into popularity. - Froude
- To injure; to maltreat; to hurt; to treat with cruelty.
- To rape; to assault; to ravish.
- To attack with coarse language; to insult; to revile.
- To deceive; to
trick; to impose on.
- Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object. - Jeremy Taylor
Related terms
Translations
to use improperly
- Danish: misbruge
- Dutch: misbruiken, verkeerd gebruiken
- Finnish: väärinkäyttää
- French: abuser
- German: missbrauchen
- Hebrew: ניצל לרעה
- Italian: abusare
- Japanese: 濫用する
- Norwegian: misbruke
- Portuguese: abusar
- Russian: злоупотреблять
- Swedish: missbruka
to hurt
- Danish: mishandle
- Dutch: mishandelen
- Finnish: pahoinpidellä
- French: abuser
- German: missbrauchen
- Hebrew: התעלל
- Italian: abusare
- Japanese: 酷使する; 虐待する
- Norwegian: mishandle
- Portuguese: abusar
- Russian: издеваться
- Swedish: misshandla
to rape
to insult
- Dutch: beschimpen, uitschelden
- Finnish: herjata, solvata
- Hebrew: השתלח
- Hindi: बुरा भला सुनाना, ग़ाली देना rfscript Devanagari
- Japanese: ののしる
- Norwegian: skjelle ut
- Russian: оскорблять (oskorblját’), ругать (rugát’), обругать (obrugát’)
to deceive
Anagrams
Extensive Definition
Abuse refers to the use or treatment of something
(a person, item, substance, concept, or vocabulary) that is seen as
harmful.
Several types of abuse include:
- Spiritual abuse: abusive or aberrational practices identified in the behavior and teachings of some churches, spiritual and religious organizations and groups.
- Sexual abuse: The improper use of another person for sexual purposes, generally without their consent or under physical or psychological pressure (also, child sexual abuse, whether abused by parents, those in loco parentis or strangers).
- Physical abuse: Where one person inflicts physical violence or pain on another.
- Verbal abuse: When a person uses profanity, demeaning talk, or threatening statements.
- Emotional abuse or psychological abuse: coercion, humiliation, intimidation, relational aggression, parental alienation or covert incest: Where one person uses emotional or psychological coercion to compel another to do something they do not want, or is not in their best interests; or when one person manipulates another's emotional or psychological state for their own ends (see battered person syndrome), or commits psychological aggression using ostensibly non-violent methods to inflict mental or emotional violence or pain on another.
- Drug abuse: the misuse of drugs, alcohol or other substances, usually a form of addiction. Law enforcement officials, among others, often define drug abuse as "any" use of illegal drugs, whether or not use is actually harmful to the user or to anyone else.
- Child abuse: Abuse, usually physical, emotional or sexual, directed at a child.
- Spousal abuse (or domestic violence): Abuse, usually physical, or psychological abuse, directed at one's domestic partner.
- Elder abuse: Abuse, most often physical or in the form of psychological threats, directed at the elderly, especially in nursing homes and similar institutions.
- Human rights abuse: Violation of human rights.
- Animal abuse: Abuse or cruelty directed at animals.
- Legal abuse: Vexatious litigation or malicious prosecution to retaliate, coerce, or emotionally/financially harm a person.
- Internet abuse includes a wide range of inappropriate online behavior, such as unsolicited promotional email, intrusion attempts, and phishing.
External links
abuse in Catalan: Abús
abuse in German: Missbrauch
abuse in French: Maltraitance
abuse in Italian: Abuso
abuse in Hebrew: התעללות
abuse in Hungarian: Visszaélés
abuse in Japanese: 虐待
abuse in Polish: Abuse (internet)
abuse in Portuguese: Abuso
abuse in Romanian: Abuz
abuse in Russian: Злоупотребление
abuse in Sicilian: Abbusu
abuse in Simple English: Abuse
abuse in Turkish: İstismar
abuse in Yiddish: באלעסטיגן
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
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