abuse

v

1. misuse, misemploy, misapply, misappropriate; wrong, aggrieve, Inf. shaft, Inf. give [s.o.] the shaft, disrespect, Sl. do [s.o.] dirty, Sl. kick [s.o.] around; profane, pervert, prostitute; exploit, impose upon, take advantage of, walk all over [s.o.].

2. mistreat, maltreat, mishandle, ill-use, ill-treat, bullyrag; manhandle, maul, batter, Sl. knock around or about; beat, beat up, pound, thrash, hit, strike, Archaic. belabor; harm, damage, bruise, wound, hurt, pain, injure; persecute, torment, agonize, torture, rack, Sl. give [s.o.] the works.

3. revile, vituperate, oppugn, assail, belabor, lash, rail against, inveigh against, Inf. sail into, Inf. jump down [s.o.'s] throat, Archaic. clapperclaw; tongue-lash, curse, execrate, imprecate, anathematize; upbraid, objurgate, excoriate, flay, fulminate against, lambaste; berate, censure, reproach, rebuke, reprove, Sl. strafe, Sl. chew out; vilify, traduce, asperse, calumniate, impugn, slur, malign, defame, denigrate, slander, libel, backbite, bespatter; denounce, decry, disparage, discredit, depreciate, deprecate, belittle, minimize, run or put down, Inf. knock, Sl. badmouth; scorn, deride, gibbet, ridicule, mock, lampoon, pasquinade, make fun of.

4. rape, ravish, outrage, violate, molest, deflower, Obs. devirginate, Obs. constuprate, Obs. stuprate, Archaic. harrow; assault, attack, Archaic. insult.

n

5. misuse, misemployment, misapplication, misappropriation; exploitation, imposition.

6. revilement, vituperation, assailment, belaboring; curse, execration, imprecation, malediction, anathematization; ribaldry, scurrility, billingsgate; invective, railing, fulmination, upbraiding, objurgation, contumely, berating, scolding, tongue-lashing; censure, reproach, rebuke, reproval; vilification, impugnment, traducement, aspersion, calumniation, calumny, obloquy, slur; maligning, defamation, denigration, slander, libel, Inf. backbiting; diatribe, tirade, philippic, denunciation, disparagement, discrediting, depreciation, deprecation, insinuation, belittlement, minimization; scorn, derision, ridicule, mockery.

7. misusage, ill-use, ill-usage, mishandling, mistreatment, maltreatment, ill-treatment; manhandling, mauling, battery, beating, thrashing, child abuse, wife-beating; harming, damage, hurting, injury; persecution, tormenting, torturing.

8. corruption, wrongdoing, misdeed, fault, Both Law. malfeasance, misfeasance, Chiefly Law. malversation.

9. rape, ravishment, violation, molestation, defloration, deflowering, devirgination, Obs. constupration, Obs. stupration; assault, attack, Archaic. insult.