Inflected forms: a·bused, a·bus·ing, a·bus·es 1. To use wrongly or improperly; misuse: abuse alcohol; abuse a privilege.2. To hurt or injure by maltreatment; ill-use. 3. To force sexual activity on; rape or molest. 4. To assail with contemptuous, coarse, or insulting words; revile. 5.Obsolete To deceive or trick.
NOUN:
(-bys)1. Improper use or handling; misuse: abuse of authority; drug abuse.2. Physical maltreatment: spousal abuse.3. Sexual abuse. 4. An unjust or wrongful practice: a government that commits abuses against its citizens.5. Insulting or coarse language: verbal abuse.
IDIOM:
abuse oneselfVulgar To masturbate.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English abusen, from Old French abuser, from abus, improper use, from Latin absus, past participle of abt, to misuse : ab-, away; see ab–1 + t, to use.
OTHER FORMS:
a·buser —NOUN
SYNONYMS:
abuse, misuse, mistreat, ill-treat, maltreat These verbs mean to treat wrongfully or harmfully. Abuse applies to injurious or improper treatment: “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us” (Aldo Leopold). Misuse stresses incorrect or unknowledgeable handling: “How often misused words generate misleading thoughts” (Herbert Spencer). Mistreat, ill-treat, and maltreat all share the sense of inflicting injury, often intentionally: “I had seen many more patients die from being mistreated for consumption than from consumption itself” (Earl of Lytton). The army had orders not to ill-treat the prisoners.“When we misuse [a language other than our native language], we are in fact trying to reduce its element of foreignness. We let ourselves maltreat it as though it naturally belonged to us” (Manchester Guardian Weekly).
-by
z
sus, past participle of ab
, to misuse : ab-, away; see ab–1 + 
