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Abuse Definition

abuse

See also abusé

Contents

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French abus, from Latin abūsus, perfect active participle of abūtor.

Pronunciation

Noun

abuse (plural abuses)

  1. Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; misuse; perversion. [from 15th c]
    • 1788, Federalist, James Madison, Number 63
      Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.
  2. Physical or verbal maltreatment; injury.
  3. Forcing of undesired sexual activity by one person on another
  4. An unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom; offense; crime; fault.
  5. Coarse, insulting speech; abusive language.
    • 1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The history of England: from the accession of James the Second, volume 9, page 153:
      The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows.
Synonyms
The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".
Derived terms
terms derived from abuse (noun)
Translations
improper usage
physical maltreatment
  • Bosnian: zlostavljanje (bs) n.
  • Danish: mishandling (da) c.
  • Dutch: mishandeling (nl) f.
  • Finnish: pahoinpitely (fi)
  • French: abus (fr) m.
  • German: Misshandlung f. (alternative Mißhandlung)
  • Greek: κακομεταχείριση (kakometacheírisi) f.
  • Hebrew: התעללות (he) (hit'al'lút) f.
sexual assault
a corrupt practice
insulting speech
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
  • Interlingua: abuso
  • Romanian: abuz n.
  • Spanish: abuso m.

Etymology 2

From French or Old French abuser, from Latin abūsus, perfect active participle of abūtor, from ab (“from, away from”) + ūtor (“use”).

Pronunciation

Verb

abuse (third-person singular simple present abuses, present participle abusing, simple past and past participle abused)

  1. (transitive) 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. [from early 15th c.]
    • 1856, James Anthony Froude, History of England from the fall of Wolsey to the defeat of the Spanish Armada, volume 1, published 1870, page 353:
      This principle (if we may so abuse the word) shot rapidly into popularity
  2. (transitive) To injure; to maltreat; to hurt; to treat with cruelty.
  3. (transitive) To attack with coarse language; to insult; to revile.
  4. (transitive) (obsolete) To deceive; to trick; to impose on.
    • 1651-2, Jeremy Taylor, "Sermon VI, The House of Feasting; or, The Epicures Measures", in The works of Jeremy Taylor, Volume 1, page 283 (1831), edited by Thomas Smart Hughes
      When Cyrus had espied Astyages and his fellows coming drunk from a banquet loaden with variety of follies and filthiness, their legs failing them, their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud and abused by a double object}}
Synonyms
The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".
Derived terms
terms derived from abuse (verb)
Related terms
terms related to abuse (verb)
Translations
to use improperly
to hurt
to rape
to insult
to deceive
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Anagrams

French

Verb

abuse

  1. first-person singular present indicative of abuser
  2. third-person singular present indicative of abuser
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of abuser
  4. first-person singular present subjunctive of abuser
  5. second-person singular imperative of abuser

Anagrams

Latin

Participle

abūse

  1. vocative masculine singular of abūsus

Spanish

Verb

abuse (infinitive abusar)

  1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of abusar.
  2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of abusar.
  3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of abusar.
  4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of abusar.

 

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'Abuse' Information

Abuse is the improper usage or treatment for a bad purpose, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit.
from: Wikipedia: abuse,
Fri May 18 09:20:44 2012
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