verb
- Treat badly.
- usage: "This boss abuses his workers"; "She is always stepping on others to get ahead"
- Change the inherent purpose or function of something.
- usage: "Don't abuse the system"; "The director of the factory misused the funds intended for the health care of his workers"
- Use foul or abusive language towards.
- usage: "The actress abused the policeman who gave her a parking ticket"; "The angry mother shouted at the teacher"
- synonyms: abuse, clapperclaw, blackguard, shout
- Use wrongly or improperly or excessively.
- usage: "Her husband often abuses alcohol"; "while she was pregnant, she abused drugs"
- synonyms: abuse
adjective
- Used improperly or excessively especially drugs.
- usage: "an abused substance"
- Subjected to cruel treatment.
- usage: "an abused wife"
- synonyms: ill-treated, maltreated, mistreated
WordNet 3.0 © 2006 by Princeton University
| APA | WordNet. (2010). abused. Retrieved September 22, 2026, from http://smartdefine.org/abused/definitions/1167115 |
| Chicago | WordNet. 2010. "abused" http://smartdefine.org/abused/definitions/1167115 (accessed September 22, 2026). |
| Harvard | WordNet 2010, abused, Smart Define, viewed 22 September, 2026, <http://smartdefine.org/abused/definitions/1167115>. |
| MLA | WordNet. "abused" 23 October 2010. Web. 22 September 2026. <http://smartdefine.org/abused/definitions/1167115> |