English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈbjuːs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈbjus/, enPR: əbyo͞os'

Noun

abuse ‎(countable and uncountable, plural abuses)

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.]
   • 1948, W. R. Inge, The End of an Age:

     Dickens was careful to castigate abuses which were being reformed.

   All abuse, whether physical, verbal, psychological or sexual, is bad.

2. Misuse; improper use; perversion. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]
   • 1788, Federalist, James Madison, Number 63

     Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.

   • 2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 164:

     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?

3. (obsolete) A delusion; an imposture; misrepresentation; deception. [Attested from the mid 16^th century until the mid 17^th century.]
   • 1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene VII:

     Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?

4. Coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; language that unjustly or angrily vilifies. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]
   • 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.

5. (now rare)   Catachresis. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]
6. Physical maltreatment; injury; cruel treatment. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]
7. Violation; defilement; rape; forcing of undesired sexual activity by one person on another, often on a repeated basis. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]

Usage notes

• (misuse, perversion): Typically followed by the word of.

Synonyms

• invective, contumely, reproach, scurrility, insult, opprobrium

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English abusen, from Middle French abuser, from Latin abūsus ‎(“misused, using up”), perfect active participle of abūtor ‎(“to use up, misuse, consume”), from ab ‎(“from, away from”) + ūtor ‎(“to use”).^[2][1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈbjuːz/
• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈbjuz/, enPR: əbyo͞oz'

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. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]
   • 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, especially repeatedly. [First attested in the mid 16^th century.]
   • (Can we date this quote?), R. S. Thomas, At It:

     And I would have things to say to this God at the judgement, storming at him, as Job stormed with the eloquence of the abused heart.

3. (transitive) 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 17^th century.]
   • Macaulay

     The […] tellers of news abused the general.

   • 1904, W. B. Yeats, The King's Threshold:

     But ever and always curse him and abuse him.

4. (transitive) 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 20^th century.]
5. (transitive, archaic) To violate; defile; to rape. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

6. (transitive, obsolete) Misrepresent; adulterate. [Attested from around 1350 to 1470 until the mid 18^th century.]
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Hones, a Foundling:

     Believe me, sir, he hath been abused, grossly abused to you.

7. (transitive, obsolete) To deceive; to trick; to impose on; misuse the confidence of. [Attested from the late 15^th century until the early 19^th century.]
   • 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

8. (transitive, obsolete, Scotland) Disuse. [Attested from the late 15^th century until the mid 16^th century.]

Synonyms

• maltreat, injure, revile, reproach, vilify, vituperate, asperse, traduce, malign, misbrook
• See also Wikisaurus:offend

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 10

^[2]

1. 1 2 Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], ISBN 0-87779-101-5), page 8
2. 1 2 William Morris (editor), The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1971 [1969]; American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc.; ISBN 0-395-09066-0), page 6

Anagrams

• beaus

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

• aubes

Latin

Participle

abūse

1. vocative masculine singular of abūsus

Portuguese

Verb

abuse

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of abusar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of abusar
3. first-person singular imperative of abusar
4. third-person singular imperative of abusar

Spanish

Verb

abuse

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.