abuse
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈbjuːs/
enpr: əbyo͞os'
ipa: /əˈbjus/
ipa: /əˈbjʉs/
rhymes: -uːs
Forms: form: abuses
Etymology: From Middle English abusen, then from either Old French abus (“improper use”), or from Latin abūsus (“misused, using up”), perfect active participle of abūtor (“make improper use of, consume, abuse”), from ab (“away”) + ūtor (“to use”). Equivalent to ab- + use.
Senses: examples: text: human rights abuses
text: All abuse, whether physical, verbal, psychological or sexual, is bad.
text: Dickens was careful to castigate abuses which were being reformed.
ref: 1948, W. R. Inge, The End of an Age and Other Essays:
synonyms: abusage
coordinate_terms: usage
misusage
misuse#Noun
use#Noun
glosses: Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom.
examples: text: Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.
ref: 1788, James Madison, Federalist, Number 63:
text: Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?
ref: 2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 164:
glosses: Misuse; improper use; perversion.
examples: text: Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
ref: 1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act IV, scene VII:
glosses: A delusion; an imposture; misrepresentation; deception.
examples: text: The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows.
ref: 1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The history of England: from the accession of James the Second, volume 9, page 153:
text: But he and all the southerners who indulge in this abuse in the newspapers should realize that this will not enable us to find a solution to our problem but will merely aggravate it.
ref: 1950 February 11, Alhaji Na-Alhaji, Gaskiya Fa Ti Kwabo:
text: The pair – aged 14 and 15 years old – have been accused of assaulting and shouting abuse at four people in central Southampton, police have said.
ref: 2020, “Coronavirus: Teenage girls arrested after 'abusing Chinese people wearing face masks in racially-motivated attack'”, in The Independent:
synonyms: invective
contumely
reproach
scurrility
insult
opprobrium
glosses: Coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; language that unjustly or angrily vilifies.
synonyms: abusio
glosses: Catachresis.
glosses: Physical maltreatment; injury; cruel treatment.
glosses: Violation; defilement; rape; forcing of undesired sexual activity by one person on another, often on a repeated basis.
Derived terms: sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: abuse excuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: abuseful
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: abusefully
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: abuseless
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: abusement
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: abuse of discretion
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: abuse of distress
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: abuse of notation
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: abuse of process
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: alcohol abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: antiabuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: child abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: dog's abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: drug abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: elder abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: overabuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: polyabuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: racket abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: re-abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: ritual abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: satanic ritual abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: self-abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: sex abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: sexual abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: solvent abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: substance abuse
sense: terms derived from abuse (noun)
word: tech abuse