HomeServicesBlogDictionariesContactSpanish Course
Back to search

abuse

Noun CEFR B2 Frequent
əˈbjuːs

Definitions

  1. Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
  2. Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom.
  3. Misuse; improper use; perversion
  4. Misuse; improper use; perversion.
  5. A delusion; an imposture; misrepresentation; deception
  6. A delusion; an imposture; misrepresentation; deception.
  7. Coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; language that unjustly or angrily vilifies
  8. Coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; language that unjustly or angrily vilifies.
  9. Catachresis.
  10. Catachresis
  11. Physical maltreatment; injury; cruel treatment.
  12. Violation; defilement; rape; forcing of undesired sexual activity by one person on another, often on a repeated basis.

Equivalents

46 more languages
Azərbaycan dilisui-istifadə
Eestisolvang
Euskaraabusatu
فارسیدشنام
Lëtzebuergeschabuséieren
Lietuviųįžeidinėti
Македонскинавреда
മലയാളംദുരുപയോഗം
Bahasa Melayumenganiayapenderaan
Maltiabbuż
اردوگالی

Examples

human rights abuses
All abuse, whether physical, verbal, psychological or sexual, is bad.”
Dickens was careful to castigate abuses which were being reformed.”
Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.”
Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associationsculture, 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?”
“Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?”
children hurling abuse at each other
The two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to blows.”
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.”
The pairaged 14 and 15 years oldhave been accused of assaulting and shouting abuse at four people in central Southampton, police have said.”

CEFR level

B2
Upper Intermediate
This word is part of the CEFR B2 vocabulary — upper intermediate level.
See all B2 English words →

See also

Learn this word in context

See abuse used in real conversations inside our free language course.

Start Free Course

Know this word better than we do? Language is a living thing — help us keep it growing. Collaborate with Babel Free