abuse

Sayuh-BYOOS/əˈbjus/UK/əˈbjuːs/

As a verbuh-BYOOZ

Pluralabuses (some meanings)

Verbabuses, abusing, abused

14 meanings of abuse

Practice

1
cruel treatmentnoununcountable
Cruel or violent treatment of a person or animal, often repeated, that causes physical or emotional harm.
Police removed the child from a home where physical abuse was common.
The shelter cares for animals that have suffered abuse and neglect.
UsageUsually with no a, often after a kind: child abuse, physical abuse, victims of abuse.
Similarmistreatment, maltreatment, cruelty, violence, assault
2
misusenouncountable or uncountable
Wrongful or improper use of something, or use of it for a wrong purpose; also an unjust or corrupt practice.
The report documented widespread abuse of public funds.
Abuse of the appeals process clogs the courts with frivolous claims.
UsageUsually the abuse of the thing misused: abuse of power, abuse of public funds.
Note
James Madison sets two such phrases against each other in the Federalist (1788), warning that liberty may be endangered "by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power."
3
treat cruellyverbtransitive
To injure or treat someone with cruelty, especially over and over.
The guards abused prisoners for years without facing any consequences.
Caretakers who abuse the people they look after must be reported.
UsageThe past participle often works as an adjective: an abused child, an abused animal.
Similarhurt, harm, injure, mistreat, maltreat
Note
The cruelty need not leave a bodily mark. Threats, neglect and constant humiliation can all be abuse, and an abused person may carry the harm inwardly long after any bruise would have faded.
4
sexual assaultnoununcountable
Sexual activity forced on another person or imposed on someone who cannot consent, often repeatedly.
The inquiry uncovered years of abuse in which staff forced themselves on residents.
Survivors of sexual abuse often carry the trauma for decades.
UsageOften named in full as sexual abuse, as in survivors of sexual abuse.
Similarmolestation
5
verbtransitive
To put something to a wrong use, or to apply it improperly for a wrong purpose.
The manager abused his authority to silence critics.
Politicians who abuse their position quickly lose public trust.
UsageThe object is a thing, not a person: abuse your power, your position or someone's trust.
Similarmisuse, exploit, misapply
6
verbtransitive
To take a drug improperly, in larger doses than prescribed or for recreation.
Teenagers who abuse stimulants risk serious heart damage.
She had abused sleeping pills for years before seeking help.
UsageUsually with a drug as object, abuse painkillers; the matching nouns are drug abuse and substance abuse.
Similarmisuse
7
noununcountable
Coarse, insulting language that attacks or vilifies someone.
Players are warned that racist abuse will lead to a lifetime ban.
The official endured constant abuse online after the controversial vote.
UsageUsually with no a: shout abuse at someone, a stream of abuse, racist abuse.
Similarinsult, invective, opprobrium, contumely
Oppositepraise, acclaim
Note
People shout abuse at someone or exchange a good deal of it, as Macaulay's rival parties do before they come to blows in his History of England. It takes no a: a stream of abuse, racist abuse. Unlike cruel or violent treatment, this abuse is done with words alone.
8
use sexuallyverbtransitive
To rape or sexually violate someone; in archaic use, with oneself as the object, to masturbate.
Investigators say the man used his job at the school to sexually abuse several students over many years.
Through “wantonness,” or just by being “idle and alone,” or by the instruction of intimates, the young learn to abuse themselves without learning how wrong and dangerous it is.
2003, Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation
UsageToday usually sexually abuse someone; abuse oneself is an old euphemism found in moral tracts.
Note
A reflexive euphemism sits inside this archaic sense: abuse oneself was the moralists' phrase for masturbation. Thomas W. Laqueur's Solitary Sex (2003) uses the phrase when retelling old warnings about the young, who "learn to abuse themselves" without knowing the harm.

Less common meanings

9
speak rudely toverbtransitive
To attack someone with coarse, insulting language; to revile or disparage.
Protesters abused the officers as they passed.
Commentators who abuse public figures often hide behind anonymity.
UsageOften verbally abuse someone, since a bare abuse with a person as object can be read as cruelty.
Similarinsult, revile, vilify, vituperate
Oppositepraise, compliment, flatter
Note
In this sense the weapon is the tongue: Yeats's "curse him and abuse him," or Macaulay's tellers of news who "abused the general." The Yeats line is from The King's Threshold (1904). With a person as the object, a bare abuse can be read as treating someone cruelly, so people often say verbally abuse instead.
10
nounarchaiccountable
The improper or strained use of a word, especially a metaphor pushed past its proper sense.
Note
A rhetorician's term, now archaic, for stretching a word to name something it does not properly fit. Greek calls this catachresis and Latin calls it abusio. The idea survives in the verb of misuse. James Anthony Froude writes "if we may so abuse the word" in 1856, apologizing for straining a term in exactly this way.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
Abuse is a rhetorical term for applying a word beyond its proper sense. rhetoric.byu.edu
Catachresis is the Greek term for misuse of a word. en.wiktionary.org
Abusio is the corresponding Latin rhetorical term. en.wiktionary.org
The verb abuse has the related meaning of misuse. en.wiktionary.org
James Anthony Froude wrote the quoted words as a qualification of his use of principle. gutenberg.org
The quotation dates to 1856, when the first volume of Froude's History of England appeared. en.wiktionary.org
Froude's qualification acknowledges an improper application of a term. en.wiktionary.org
11
nounobsoletecountable
A deception or delusion; a false impression deliberately created to mislead.
Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?
1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet
Note
Shakespeare's meaning, now obsolete, is an illusion or a trick, not an injury. In Hamlet the line "Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?" asks whether something is a deception. A modern reader could easily hear cruelty in it instead. The same idea of misleading someone belongs to the obsolete verb "deceive".
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
Abuse has an obsolete noun sense meaning delusion or deception, used in Shakespeare's Hamlet. en.wiktionary.org
The quoted line occurs in Hamlet; Claudius speaks it while questioning whether Hamlet's reported return is a deception. opensourceshakespeare.org
The obsolete verb abuse also means deceive. en.wiktionary.org
12
verbobsoletetransitive
To deceive or trick someone, often by misusing the confidence they place in you.
Similardeceive, trick, con
Note
The verb that matches the obsolete noun "deception". The person is the object, and what gets misused is their trust. To abuse someone in this sense was to impose on them. Jeremy Taylor's sermon The House of Feasting stretches it to the senses, with drunken eyes deceived into seeing double.
13
verbobsoletetransitive
To misrepresent something, or to make it impure by adding inferior matter.
Believe me, sir, he hath been abused, grossly abused to you.
1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones
Note
In older English a person could be abused to someone else, meaning falsely described to them. Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) has "he hath been abused, grossly abused to you." This means slandered, not mistreated. The word to marks the listener whose opinion was poisoned. A modern reader who misses that to will hear cruelty where Fielding meant misrepresentation.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
Older English allowed abuse to mean misrepresenting someone to another person. en.wiktionary.org
Henry Fielding wrote Tom Jones, first published in 1749. en.wikipedia.org
1749 is the novel's first publication year. en.wikipedia.org
The quoted wording occurs in the novel; Mrs Miller says it to Allworthy about Jones. gutenberg.org
The passage concerns slanderous misrepresentation, and to you identifies the person receiving the false account. gutenberg.org
14
verbobsoleteScotlandtransitive
To cease using something; to abandon a practice, custom, or object.
Note
A long-obsolete Scottish use that takes the word at face value: ab- "away from" plus use. To abuse a custom was simply to stop using it, with no suggestion of harm or wrongdoing. Readers of older Scottish writing should consider "disuse" before assuming "misuse."
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
An obsolete Scottish sense of abuse meant to discontinue a practice, without implying mistreatment. en.wiktionary.org
The component ab- means away from, making the note's literal interpretation consistent with the components. en.wiktionary.org
In this historical sense, abusing a custom meant discontinuing it. en.wiktionary.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of abuse apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–2, 4, 7, 10–11

From Middle English abusen, and ultimately from either Old French abus ('improper use') or Latin abūsus ('misused'), the participle of abūtor ('to make improper use of'), formed from ab ('away') plus ūtor ('to use').

Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

Abuse descends from Middle English abusen. en.wiktionary.org
The stated alternative Old French and Latin sources are recorded in the etymology. en.wiktionary.org
Latin abūsus is a participle of abūtor. en.wiktionary.org
Abūsus has the sense of having misused something. en.wiktionary.org
Abūtor can mean to make improper use of something. en.wiktionary.org
Abūtor combines ab-, meaning away from, with ūtor, meaning use. en.wiktionary.org

Meanings 3, 5–6, 8–9, 12–14

Latin ab ('from, away from') and ūtor ('to use') formed abūtor ('to use up, misuse'), whose participle abūsus ('misused, used up') passed through Middle French abuser into Middle English as abusen.