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Abuse   /əbjˈus/  /əbjˈuz/   Listen
noun
Abuse  n.  
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."
2.
Physical ill treatment; injury. "Rejoice... at the abuse of Falstaff."
3.
A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the abuses in the civil service. "Abuse after disappeared without a struggle.."
4.
Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling. "The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows."
5.
Violation; rape; as, abuse of a female child. (Obs.) "Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?"
Abuse of distress (Law), a wrongful using of an animal or chattel distrained, by the distrainer.
Synonyms: Invective; contumely; reproach; scurrility; insult; opprobrium. 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.



verb
Abuse  v. t.  (past & past part. abused; pres. part. abusing)  
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."
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."
4.
To dishonor. "Shall flight abuse your name?"
5.
To violate; to ravish.
6.
To deceive; to impose on. (Obs.) "Their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud, and abused by a double object."
Synonyms: To maltreat; injure; revile; reproach; vilify; vituperate; asperse; traduce; malign.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Abuse" Quotes from Famous Books



... Huntly was the less duped by the apparent pretext of this expedition, in that his son, John Cordon, for some abuse of his powers, had just been condemned to a temporary imprisonment. He, notwithstanding, made every possible submission to the queen, sending messengers in advance to invite-her to rest in his castle; and following up the messengers in ...
— CELEBRATED CRIMES, COMPLETE - MARY STUART--1587 • ALEXANDRE DUMAS, PERE

... of the signs, one of the mysteries of the times. The ridicule and abuse of the press, the opposition and enmity of his childhood friends, had developed the man of force she now beheld, and who came forward ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... the heads of those who perished at their hands on the doors of their houses, as a proof of their deeds; for he who hung up the greatest number, in the sight of his other countrymen was most esteemed and applauded. It was an abuse of obligation that, a father or mother having died, the son who inherited should retire from the village into the mountains and forests until he had despoiled at least two persons of the common light—even though it should be, as one can well judge, ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume XXI, 1624 • Various

... till you've washed; then rise up without laughing or joking, and go to your lord's table. Stand there till grace is said. Then some of you go for water, some hold the towel, some pour water over his hands. Other things I shall not put in this little Report, but skip over, praying that no one will abuse me for this work. Let readers add or take away: I address it to every one who likes to correct it. Sweet children, I beseech you know this book, and may God make you so expert therein that you may ...
— Early English Meals and Manners • Various

... questionable, and has been as often questioned, as the power of Congress to create a bank; and, enlightened by what has passed under our own observation, we now see that it is of all powers the most capable of flagrant abuse. Now, Sir, I ask again, What becomes of this power, if the authority of precedent be taken away? It has all along been denied to exist; it is nowhere found in the Constitution; and its recent exercise, or, to call things by their right names, its recent abuse, has, more than any other single ...
— The Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster • Daniel Webster


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