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abuse
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
abuse
I.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a term of abuse (=a word that is offensive or deliberately rude)
▪ ‘Geek’ is used as a term of abuse.
abuse your position (=use your level or rank wrongly)
▪ He abused his position as a doctor.
abuse/misuse your authority (=use your authority in a bad way)
▪ The mayor was accused of abusing his authority and taking bribes.
alcohol abuse (=when someone drinks too much)
alcohol abuse
an abuse of power (=a wrong or unfair use of power)
▪ This cover-up is a scandalous abuse of power.
child abuse (=treating children in a very bad way, especially sexually)
▪ He was arrested on suspicion of child abuse.
child abuse
domestic violence/abuse (=in a family, especially by a husband towards his wife)
▪ The organization supports women who are victims of domestic violence.
drug use/abuse (=taking drugs)
▪ She is being treated for drug abuse.
flagrant abuse/violation/breach etc
▪ flagrant violations of human rights
physical abuse/violence
▪ He had suffered physical abuse at the hands of his parents.
physically abuse sb
▪ Her father had physically abused her.
racial abuse (=insulting remarks based on someone's race)
▪ Their children had begun to face racial abuse on the streets and in school.
shout abuse/insults
▪ He was surrounded by a group of boys who shouted abuse at him.
solvent abuse
subject sb to an ordeal/abuse/harassment
▪ Barker subjected his victim to awful abuse.
substance abuse
tirade of abuse
▪ a tirade of abuse
torrent of abuse
▪ When I asked him to move, he unleashed a torrent of abuse.
verbal abuse (=cruel words)
verbal abuse from other kids on the street
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
domestic
▪ Similarly, reporting of domestic abuse doubled in the London area between 1991-92.
▪ J.-hungry media with snappy sound bites and an attention-grabbing stance on domestic abuse.
▪ Many physicians have been trained to screen women for domestic abuse.
▪ Several residential neighborhoods have seen increases in robberies, burglaries, street violence and domestic abuse, the spokesmen said.
▪ His suspension was as lame as O. J. Simpson getting to do counseling over the telephone for domestic abuse.
▪ To confront domestic abuse is to confront the failure of the church.
elder
▪ The incidence of elder abuse is hard to quantify.
▪ So this week Community Care launches Elder abuse: break the silence - its major campaign for 1993.
▪ Intent could be a factor in defining elder abuse.
▪ Researching the prevalence of elder abuse is notoriously difficult, and information on the abuse of black elders is non-existent.
▪ Community Care believes elder abuse is a major problem.
emotional
▪ The victim of horrendous physical and emotional abuse, she was failed by all those who were bound up in her care.
▪ In one fell swoop, the authors have denied the deeply traumatizing consequences of extreme verbal and emotional abuse.
physical
▪ But he did refer to a spectator and an alleged verbal and physical abuse on Dooley and himself.
▪ She suffered terrible verbal as well as physical abuse for almost twenty-four years.
▪ Some women are afraid of physical violence or abuse from their partners, if they try to make changes in their relationship.
▪ The verbal and sometimes physical abuse that the guards have to take can be unbearable.
▪ A checklist of the types of physical abuse was developed to identify and categorise them.
▪ One is the difficulty of establishing a viable and nationally recognised definition of physical abuse.
▪ No one should be subject to physical or mental abuse, by another human being.
▪ This type of physical abuse is limited to the more extreme forms of witchcraft and satanism.
potential
▪ It helps management build a complete picture of various types of absence, and to identify potential abuses.
▪ The potential for abuse in such a system is immense.
▪ It may be necessary to report back to management any concerns of mismanagement or potential abuse.
▪ The potential for abuse and misuse of genome and cloning technology has always been a quiet threat.
▪ Given the potential for abuse, should drinks packaging carry a health warning on the label?
▪ When abuse or potential abuse is confirmed the conference may decide to place a child's name on the child protection register.
▪ The exchange has a continuing obligation to monitor markets and to identify and address potential abuses.
racial
▪ Some ethnic minority elders may find the continuing experience of hostility and racial abuse which they experience very hard to bear.
▪ Some critics say the prisons should hire more blacks to help curb racial abuse.
▪ People we spoke to in Ross said that people involved in racial abuse were in the minority.
▪ A lot of racial abuse and harassment goes on.
▪ Their children had begun to face racial abuse on the streets and in the schools.
▪ I can never condone coin-throwing or racial abuse.
serious
▪ So they set up this fund to compensate victims in serious cases of abuse.
▪ The way in which Gingrich and his assistants went about funding the program suggests a serious form of abuse.
▪ Several years ago we wrote a paper in which we detailed a serious case of abuse of editorial power.
▪ Many prisoners who actually had been newsmen had suffered serious abuse.
▪ Today the situation isn't much better: it is estimated 250,000 elderly people are suffering serious abuse.
▪ In some ways that is a more serious abuse than any yet alleged against Clinton.
▪ But that is clearly a radical step, only likely to be taken when very serious abuse is involved.
▪ What of scientists themselves - whose help can often make or break successful protests against serious abuses of science.
solvent
▪ All adults need to learn about solvent abuse and to be aware that it could happen to their children.
▪ Our reporters uncovered a generation who have been sucked into a dark underworld of solvent abuse and hard drugs.
▪ Social services say they're do all they can to make their charges aware of the dangers of solvent abuse.
▪ So it's come to this; sitting in a hotel bar in New Orleans partaking in solvent abuse.
▪ All the indicators show that parental support helps young people come through solvent abuse quicker.
▪ Drugs include any intoxicant other than alcohol therefore even solvent abuse and driving may be covered by this offence.
▪ It's become the leading cause of solvent abuse deaths.
verbal
▪ Even though he never physically abused me, the verbal abuse was frightening.
▪ A solid majority shows strong correlation with disrespectful behavior, verbal abuse and physical aggression.
▪ Some 30 % of exclusions were for bullying, and a further 14.9 % for verbal abuse.
▪ In one fell swoop, the authors have denied the deeply traumatizing consequences of extreme verbal and emotional abuse.
▪ The effects of verbal abuse can be shattering.
▪ There were the violent outbursts, way out of proportion to any wrong done, and constant verbal abuse.
▪ This is enough, it would seem, to precipitate the verbal and physical abuse which follows.
▪ They had descended to their usual shouting of verbal abuse.
■ NOUN
alcohol
▪ The case of smoking and alcohol abuse illustrates the controversy.
▪ Helping young people cope with the impact of drug and alcohol abuse is the focus of the play Coming To.
▪ This may be because they generally suffer more serious problems, often complicated by personality difficulties and alcohol abuse.
▪ It makes me nervous to see how large a problem alcohol abuse has become in their country.
▪ Teenage depression, alcohol abuse, and even suicide are all attributed to the pressures of the exam system.
▪ There is no convincing evidence that advertising influences total consumption or has an impact on levels of alcohol abuse.
▪ Whilst the issue of alcohol abuse is quite properly a matter for concern, it should be seen in perspective.
child
▪ Treatment efforts in general are not very successful. Child abuse and neglect continue despite early, thoughtful, and often costly intervention.
▪ And just what is child abuse?
▪ There is no standardized definition of child abuse that has been developed by researchers and accepted by welfare professionals.
▪ The judge insisted that the trial was not about child abuse.
▪ Q: You mean you were a victim of child abuse?
▪ There is definitely a link between domestic violence and child abuse.
▪ It was a child's story about child abuse.
▪ Spousal abuse is much in the news, as much or more so as child abuse.
drug
▪ Is there a strong enough will to stamp out drug abuse?
▪ But there is a lot of alcoholism and drug abuse associated with manic-depressive illness.
▪ He says they've led to racial tension, crime and drug abuse.
▪ In facing the challenge of drug abuse, the media have never been less monolithic.
▪ Anthony Gould was said to be one of the most unpopular men in the prison because of a crusade against drug abuse.
▪ Shalala noted that parents should talk with their children about drug abuse directly.
▪ Ill health Drug abuse can lead to damage to main organs of the body, mental illness, malnutrition or death.
▪ The sportswear giants broke off their deal with the world sprint champion who's awaiting a four-year ban for drug abuse.
substance
▪ Controls would be set up at supermarket checkouts, and anyone buying too many cleaning compounds would be suspected of substance abuse.
▪ But there is another side to the substance abuse equation that may make it less amenable to interventions.
▪ Finally, the policy also aims to provide assistance to employees with other substance abuse problems.
▪ Maybe, I am thinking, they should specialize in substance abuse.
▪ In each case the primary diagnosis was substance abuse, and initial treatment was given accordingly.
▪ These guys should get into substance abuse.
▪ A questionnaire on patterns of substance abuse will be followed-up by in-depth interviews with pupils.
▪ Remember that substance abuse treatment must address queerness.
wife
▪ The results are clear to see: divorce, child and wife abuse, alcoholism and drug addiction.
▪ The problem of wife abuse is not one of feminism, secular humanism or a lack of headship in the home.
▪ None of this is to imply that Dobson is uncaring toward victims of wife abuse.
▪ The fact that Dobson periodically addresses the issue of wife abuse in his speaking and writing is commendable in itself.
▪ While media violence may exacerbate the problem of wife abuse, it does not cause it.
▪ A search for the causes of wife abuse leads back to the family itself.
■ VERB
hurl
▪ She heard the boys hurling abuse at her, shouting to her to stop, but she shut her ears to them.
▪ When I first met her she had been hurling abuse at her daughters-in-law who took no notice whatsoever.
report
▪ In these circumstances the public interest in encouraging people to report cases of child abuse has been held to outweigh other interests.
▪ This is a hot line established by state child welfare agencies for the reporting of child abuse.
▪ Why did they wait? ... Social Services are criticised for failing to report child abuse.
▪ Each state statute that mandates reporting of child abuse or neglect specifies the procedures reporters are required to follow.
▪ Should counselors violate privileged communication by reporting suspected cases of abuse or neglect?
▪ Other cities routinely reported police abuse.
▪ Under recently passed statutes, teachers now also have a duty to report child abuse and neglect.
scream
▪ Four other men and a 15-year-old youth were also held as the crowd continued to scream abuse.
▪ She thought Mrs Magendanz had seen the old coot staggering around the house and screaming abuse at her.
▪ I could scream abuse at him all day long; he wouldn't mind at all.
▪ As we entered the building a white woman leaning from a balcony screamed a stream of abuse.
shout
▪ In the presence of a large crowd in a public square the messengers shouted vulgar abuse at Vuk.
▪ Relatives of Peter Williams began shouting and hurling abuse after magistrates refused to grant bail.
▪ We'd slowly creep up on them then shout abuse and kick sand all over them.
suffer
▪ This of course has been well documented in the tragic cases of children suffering from abuse.
▪ Instead, I suffered the slings and abuses of public health.
▪ Even if they survive those patients undergoing suffocation are suffering unacceptable and repeated abuse.
▪ Many prisoners who actually had been newsmen had suffered serious abuse.
▪ Today the situation isn't much better: it is estimated 250,000 elderly people are suffering serious abuse.
▪ The siblings claim they suffered a lifetime of abuse from their parents.
▪ Educated people had become a despised group, just as during the Cultural Revolution, when they suffered verbal and physical abuse.
▪ Even after all these years I still suffer from the mental abuse.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a hail of criticism/abuse etc
▪ Oliver Stone, operating under a hail of criticism, was finishing a revisionist movie about the Kennedy assassination.
elder abuse
▪ Community Care believes elder abuse is a major problem.
▪ In the overall case, the four-year statute of limitations on alleged fraud, theft and financial elder abuse expires in February.
▪ Intent could be a factor in defining elder abuse.
▪ Report on local authority guidelines on elder abuse.
▪ Researching the prevalence of elder abuse is notoriously difficult, and information on the abuse of black elders is non-existent.
▪ The incidence of elder abuse is hard to quantify.
hurl abuse/insults/accusations etc (at sb)
▪ She heard the boys hurling abuse at her, shouting to her to stop, but she shut her ears to them.
▪ There is not much to be achieved by hurling insults.
▪ When I first met her she had been hurling abuse at her daughters-in-law who took no notice whatsoever.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a case of child abuse at a daycare center
▪ a victim of sexual abuse
▪ An angry mob screamed abuse and hurled missiles during clashes with police yesterday.
▪ By the late 1970s, the word "hippie" had become a term of abuse.
▪ Demonstrators hurled abuse at councillors as they entered the council building in Glasgow.
▪ Doctors believed that there was no evidence of abuse, despite the woman's claims.
▪ Leaning out of the window, he let loose a stream of abuse.
▪ People were shouting abuse at the Prime Minister as he sped away in a large car.
▪ the abuse of the elderly
▪ There has been an increase in the number of cases of child abuse.
▪ This is an obscene abuse of political power.
▪ Worrell lost his job as coach because of his verbal abuse of players.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Currently the best-known cases seeking money damages for failure to report child abuse and neglect have been filed against physicians and hospitals.
▪ Dietz could not say whether Erik is lying about alleged abuse by his father.
▪ Here participants were given a chance to discuss sexuality, health, relationships, self-esteem and abuse.
▪ In considering the problem of child abuse, we all have the same starting point.
▪ Instead of sighs and accidents there was pointed and deliberate abuse.
▪ The power to stop a prosecution arises only when it is an abuse of the process of the court.
▪ Yet everyone knew of the abuses which had grown, flourished and even became institutionalized in this laissezfaire prison system.
II.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
physically
▪ Even though he never physically abused me, the verbal abuse was frightening.
▪ He claimed that both parents psychologically and physically abused him.
▪ In 1986, a father of fifteen children then living in South Ronaldsay was jailed for physically abusing them.
▪ Boyle cited a recent example of an elderly woman who was being physically abused.
▪ He talked of his harsh, unsympathetic upbringing in which his often drunken father physically abused his wife and children.
▪ BWhile not physically abused, Tamika, like most children of addicts, is emotionally starved.
▪ My stepfather was strict and didn't let us have friends in the house; he physically abused me but not sexually.
▪ A constellation of social difficulties has also been found to characterise parents who severely physically abuse their children.
racially
▪ Lazio's Sinisa Mihailovic was banned for two matches for racially abusing Patrick Vieira.
▪ They said both men had been racially abused before they died.
▪ Mr Boyle told the jury that he had never racially abused or harassed Errol.
sexually
▪ Counselling &038; Therapy with women who have been sexually abused as children on Feb 17.
▪ She noted that exceptions usually made are for children under the age of 10 who have been sexually abused.
▪ This is also possible in children who have been sexually abused.
▪ So are five former high-school students or others whom Hudson admitted sexually abusing or trying to abuse when he was a coach.
▪ Abused A 13-year-old boy, the son of a Hollywood dentist, has alleged the 34-year-old multi-millionaire sexually abused him.
▪ Potentially explosive subtext -- Annie was sexually abused as a child -- is pretty much left in the background.
▪ They said parents sexually abused their children as part of a satanic ritual, and that these practices were widespread.
▪ And sexually abused and physically battered kids run away from home.
verbally
▪ Less so is a creeping and curious menace of players being verbally abused.
▪ The rest are elbows delivered, punches thrown, verbally abusing referees, skipping All-Star media day, obscene gestures, tantrum-throwing.
▪ Referee Alf Buksh is understood to have complained in his match report of being verbally abused by officials from both teams.
▪ Afterward, the plaintiffs asked for a court order prohibiting Lawrence from verbally abusing them.
▪ The last time I had it, a woman reporter was humiliated and verbally abused in a National Football League locker room.
▪ Rosemary was frequently absent or tardy and alternated between verbally abusing her teachers and flat-out ignoring them.
■ NOUN
alcohol
▪ Clearly many issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, prostitution, and even poverty are socially constructed problems.
authority
▪ As we get older, we may be abused by other authority figures - teachers, doctors, bosses.
▪ Local magistrates also abused their authority in order to influence voters.
▪ Old mouth McEnroe, who can't stop himself from foully abusing anyone in authority with whom he disagrees.
child
▪ Social workers have a key role to play when some one suspects that a child is being abused.
▪ School officials said that prior to Thanksgiving there were no indications to teachers or other educators that the children were being abused.
▪ How do social workers go about investigating these complaints, and what leads them towards deciding that a child has been abused?
▪ Outside of behaviors falling under the child abuse and neglect laws, there were virtually none.
▪ Paying to view children being abused is causing the demand.
▪ Also patrons of child abuse vic-tims.
▪ We would not wish to outlaw parenthood on the grounds that some children are abused, even murdered, in the home.
▪ Roughly half of those women abused as children had been abused in the past year.
drug
▪ Clearly many issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, prostitution, and even poverty are socially constructed problems.
▪ Drinking and drug abuse also lower immunity and tend to increase risky behaviors.
position
▪ In fact, around one-half of the cases can be identified solely from the headlines as persons abusing their positions of trust.
▪ During his trial much was made of the way he had abused his position as a doctor.
▪ It exists in every civilised society so that Governments, the rich and the powerful can not abuse their position.
▪ Mostly he did not abuse this position, for he is a cautious man.
▪ The Labour Party has not yet decided how it can stop a single-chamber Parliament from abusing its position.
▪ At least, she hoped it was dignity, because she tried not to abuse her position of power.
▪ But what makes Courtney especially dangerous is not that he abused his position as a doctor.
▪ Predatory behaviour was discussed above, in the context of a firm abusing a dominant position.
power
▪ Nor do I deny that they sometimes abuse their power and are unfair to individuals.
▪ Most writers abuse their power by exploiting their Sources.
▪ Moscow is a grey city; comfort there is always tied to power, and power too frequently to abuse of power.
▪ He now faces charges of having abused his power while in office.
▪ At least, she hoped it was dignity, because she tried not to abuse her position of power.
▪ I always tried to not abuse that power.
▪ Friends of the victims demonstrated on the streets, calling for action against the culprits, who had abused their power.
▪ The real Nixon was not a benign statesman but a ruthless, corrupt president who abused power on a spectacular scale.
privilege
▪ Those privy to sensitive information about mergers or acquisitions of companies worth millions or billions of pounds must not abuse that privilege.
▪ The Committee criticized Gingrich for abusing mailing privileges and for failing to report a real estate deal.
substance
▪ Estimates of substance abuse among the population range from 5 percent to 37 percent.
system
▪ It's encouraging them all to bloody well abuse the system so it is.
▪ Critics say professional athletes have been abusing the generous California system by filing claims from out of state.
▪ It's to stop people abusing the system.
▪ Certainly, there are those among them who abuse the system.
▪ They were open to abuse, and their system of controls did not always work.
▪ They believed their children were being abused by the system set up to protect them.
trust
▪ In fact, around one-half of the cases can be identified solely from the headlines as persons abusing their positions of trust.
▪ But some doctors have a history of abusing that trust for profit, prescribing unnecessary and ineffective diet regimes to all comers.
▪ Nevertheless, the whole basis of survey work is one of trust and relatively few interviewers abuse this trust.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a hail of criticism/abuse etc
▪ Oliver Stone, operating under a hail of criticism, was finishing a revisionist movie about the Kennedy assassination.
elder abuse
▪ Community Care believes elder abuse is a major problem.
▪ In the overall case, the four-year statute of limitations on alleged fraud, theft and financial elder abuse expires in February.
▪ Intent could be a factor in defining elder abuse.
▪ Report on local authority guidelines on elder abuse.
▪ Researching the prevalence of elder abuse is notoriously difficult, and information on the abuse of black elders is non-existent.
▪ The incidence of elder abuse is hard to quantify.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ athletes abusing their bodies with steroids
▪ Erica runs a hostel for women who have been abused by their husbands.
▪ Erik testified he was sexually abused by his father since the age of 6.
▪ Local politicians abused their privileges to make themselves rich.
▪ Many of the kids are abusing drugs.
▪ Most people on welfare do not abuse the system.
▪ My father abused us for years.
▪ people who abuse the welfare system
▪ She was sexually abused as a child.
▪ Some lawyers seem to enjoy abusing witnesses.
▪ Some nursing home patients were neglected or abused.
▪ The men were getting drunk on cheap beer and some had started abusing passers-by.
▪ The player was reported to the tournament director for verbally abusing match officials.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ As we get older, we may be abused by other authority figures - teachers, doctors, bosses.
▪ Eleanor just abused him thoroughly, which wasn't very womanly in his opinion.
▪ He said du Pont frequently carried a. 38-caliber pistol on the estate and abused cocaine and alcohol.
▪ I ended up in Kibble List D. I just abused the teachers.
▪ It exists in every civilised society so that Governments, the rich and the powerful can not abuse their position.
▪ Time allowed 00:21 Read in studio A man who sexually abused a schoolgirl has been given probation.
▪ Unfortunately no management principle discussed in this book is more abused.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Abuse

Abuse \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.

Abuse

Abuse \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.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
abuse

early 15c., "to misuse, misapply," from Middle French abuser, from Vulgar Latin *abusare, from Latin abusus "an abusing, using up," past participle of abuti "use up," also "misuse," from ab- "away" (see ab-) + uti "use" (see use). Of sexual situations from early 15c., but originally incest, homosexuality, prostitution, etc.; meaning "to misuse sexually, ravish" is from 1550s. Specifically of drugs, from 1968. Related: Abused; abusing.

abuse

mid-15c., "improper practice," from Old French abus (14c.), from Latin abusus (see abuse (v.)). Earlier in Middle English was abusion "wicked act or practice, shameful thing, violation of decency" (early 14c.), "an insult" (mid-14c.).

Wiktionary
abuse

Etymology 1 n. 1 improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom. (First attested around 1350 to 1470.) 2 misuse; improper use; perversion. (First attested in the mid 16th century.) Etymology 2

vb. 1 (context transitive English) 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. (First attested around 1350 to 1470.) 2 (context transitive English) To injure; to maltreat; to hurt; to treat with cruelty, especially repeatedly. (First attested in the mid 16th century.) 3 (context transitive English) To attack with coarse language; to insult; to revile; malign; to speak in an offensive manner to or about someone; to disparage. (First attested in the early 17th century.) 4 (context transitive English) To imbibe a drug for a purpose other than it was intended; to intentionally take more of a drug than was prescribed for recreational reasons; to take illegal drugs habitually. (First attested in the mid 20th century.) 5 (context transitive archaic English) To violate; defile; to rape. (First attested around 1350 to 1470.) 6 (context transitive obsolete English) Misrepresent; adulterate. (Attested from around 1350 to 1470 until the mid 18th century.) 7 (context transitive obsolete English) To deceive; to trick; to impose on; misuse the confidence of. (Attested from the late 15th century until the early 19th century.) 8 (context transitive obsolete Scotland English) disuse. (Attested from the late 15th century until the mid 16th century.)

WordNet
abuse
  1. n. 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]

abuse
  1. v. 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]

Wikipedia
Abuse

Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of an entity, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices; crimes, or other types of aggression.

Abuse (video game)

Abuse is a run and gun video game developed by Crack dot Com and published by Electronic Arts in North America and Origin Systems in Europe. It was released on February 29, 1996 for DOS. A Mac OS port of the game was published by Bungie and released on March 5, 1997. The game's source code, along with some of the Shareware content, has been in the public domain since the late 1990s and has been ported to Linux and other platforms.

Abuse (disambiguation)

Abuse is physical or mental mistreatment.

Abuse may also refer to:

  • Abuse (video game), a 1996 video game published by Origin Systems and Electronic Arts
  • Substance abuse, the maladaptive use of drugs, alcohol and other substances

Usage examples of "abuse".

He might abuse her in some other way, such as by inserting his fingers or an object to demonstrate his control and contempt, and in fact, we soon learned of the vaginal abrasions and bruising.

To what but a cultivation of the mechanical arts in a degree disproportioned to the presence of the creative faculty, which is the basis of all knowledge, is to be attributed the abuse of all invention for abridging and combining labour, to the exasperation of the inequality of mankind?

Whether Walter West let him watch while he abused young girls, or whether he encouraged his son to take his place, or whether, in fact, he abused him directly Frederick West was never to reveal.

An elderly family friend had abused her when she was six, and she had been indecently assaulted in a Gloucester park at the age of thirteen.

West calmly and relentlessly, abused his daughter until she was unable to refuse.

West systematically abused his daughter, as determined to subjugate her as he had been to subjugate Rosemary Letts.

The child, no matter how abused, still wanted to love and admire her parents, and particularly her father.

The horrifying truth is that she was almost certainly kept captive in the cellar for several days, and regularly tortured and abused, until she was finally killed.

Gagged, tied and hanging naked by her ankles, Lynda Gough was abused sexually by both Frederick and Rosemary West.

So, though Rosemary West may have physically abused him, neither she nor her husband were anxious to relinquish Steven McAvoy once he was in her hands.

Indeed, it is more than likely that the first person to be suspended from the beams in the cellar of 25 Cromwell Street and sexually abused was Rosemary West herself, and that she and her husband then decided to subject other people to the experience.

The Wests clearly made sure Carol Ann Cooper could neither move nor cry out when they abused her.

It is certain that Carol Ann Cooper was abused sexually by both Frederick and Rosemary West.

But there can be no doubt that the Wests made sure she could neither move nor cry out when they abused her.

It seems likely that she, too, was mercilessly abused just as her predecessors had been abused, with the addition of new and even more horrifying variations.