What's the difference between abuse and assault?

Abuse


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to misuse; to put to a bad use; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert; as, to abuse inherited gold; to make an excessive use of; as, to abuse one's authority.
  • (v. t.) To use ill; to maltreat; to act injuriously to; to punish or to tax excessively; to hurt; as, to abuse prisoners, to abuse one's powers, one's patience.
  • (v. t.) To revile; to reproach coarsely; to disparage.
  • (v. t.) To dishonor.
  • (v. t.) To violate; to ravish.
  • (v. t.) To deceive; to impose on.
  • (v. t.) Improper treatment or use; application to a wrong or bad purpose; misuse; as, an abuse of our natural powers; an abuse of civil rights, or of privileges or advantages; an abuse of language.
  • (v. t.) Physical ill treatment; injury.
  • (v. t.) A corrupt practice or custom; offense; crime; fault; as, the abuses in the civil service.
  • (v. t.) Vituperative words; coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; virulent condemnation; reviling.
  • (v. t.) Violation; rape; as, abuse of a female child.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Unfortunately, due to confidentiality clauses that have been imposed on us by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, we are unable to provide our full names and … titles … However, we believe the evidence that will be submitted will validate the statements that we are making in this submission.” The submission detailed specific allegations – including names and dates – of sexual abuse of child detainees, violence and bullying of children, suicide attempts by children and medical neglect.
  • (2) The authors empirically studied the self-medication hypothesis of drug abuse by examining drug effects and motivation for drug use in 494 hospitalized drug abusers.
  • (3) Alcohol abuse remains the predominant cause of chronic liver disease in the Western world.
  • (4) With respect to family environment, a history of sexual abuse was associated with perceptions that families of origin had less cohesion, more conflict, less emphasis on moral-religious matters, less emphasis on achievement, and less of an orientation towards intellectual, cultural, and recreational pursuits.
  • (5) An official inquiry into the Rotherham abuse scandal blamed failings by Rotherham council and South Yorkshire police.
  • (6) Former detectives had dug out damning evidence of abuse, as well as testimony from officers recommending prosecution, sources said.
  • (7) After these two experimental years, a governmental institute for prevention of child abuse and neglect was organized.
  • (8) Stringer, a Vietnam war veteran who was knighted in 1999, is already inside the corporation, if only for a few months, after he was appointed as one of its non-executive directors to toughen up the BBC's governance following a string of scandals, from the Jimmy Savile abuse to multimillion-pound executive payoffs.
  • (9) History contains numerous examples of government secrecy breeding abuse.
  • (10) This preliminary study compared the level of ego development, as measured by Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test (SCT), of 30 women with histories of childhood sexual victimization, and 30 women with no history of abuse.
  • (11) The District became a byword for crime and drug abuse, while its “mayor for life” lived high on the hog and lurched cheerfully from one scandal to the next.
  • (12) An official from Cafcass, the children and family court advisory service, tried to persuade the child in several interviews, but eventually the official told the court that further persuasion was inappropriate and essentially abusive.
  • (13) A series of hierarchical multiple regressions revealed the effects of Surgency, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect on evoking upset in spouses through condescension (e.g., treating spouse as stupid or inferior), possessiveness (demanding too much time and attention), abuse (slapping spouse), unfaithfulness (having sex with others), inconsiderateness (leaving toilet seat up), moodiness (crying a lot), alcohol abuse (drinking too much alcohol), emotional constriction (hiding emotions to act tough), and self-centeredness (acting selfishly).
  • (14) Its abuse has become concentrated among post-high school age, black males in a limited number of cities, especially Washington, DC.
  • (15) From a clinical standpoint, it is clear that psychiatrists caring for anxious patients must be aware of the possibility of secondary alcohol abuse.
  • (16) A thorough nursing assessment is essential to detect and correct drug misuse and to diagnose drug abuse.
  • (17) Substantial percentages of both physicians and medical students reported access to drugs, family histories of substance abuse, stress at work and home, emotional problems, and sensation seeking.
  • (18) Subjects with past history of chronic substance abuse, neurologic disease, or focal findings on MRI or CT were excluded.
  • (19) And any Labour commitment on spending is fatally undermined by their deficit amnesia.” Davey widened the attack on the Tories, following a public row this week between Clegg and Theresa May over the “snooper’s charter”, by accusing his cabinet colleague Eric Pickles of coming close to abusing his powers by blocking new onshore developments against the wishes of some local councils.
  • (20) Again, the boys in care that he abused now speak to us as broken adults.

Assault


Definition:

  • (n.) A violent onset or attack with physical means, as blows, weapons, etc.; an onslaught; the rush or charge of an attacking force; onset; as, to make assault upon a man, a house, or a town.
  • (n.) A violent onset or attack with moral weapons, as words, arguments, appeals, and the like; as, to make an assault on the prerogatives of a prince, or on the constitution of a government.
  • (n.) An apparently violent attempt, or willful offer with force or violence, to do hurt to another; an attempt or offer to beat another, accompanied by a degree of violence, but without touching his person, as by lifting the fist, or a cane, in a threatening manner, or by striking at him, and missing him. If the blow aimed takes effect, it is a battery.
  • (n.) To make an assault upon, as by a sudden rush of armed men; to attack with unlawful or insulting physical violence or menaces.
  • (n.) To attack with moral means, or with a view of producing moral effects; to attack by words, arguments, or unfriendly measures; to assail; as, to assault a reputation or an administration.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) DI James Faulkner of Great Manchester police said: “The men and women working in the factory have told us that they were subjected to physical and verbal assaults at the hands of their employers and forced to work more than 80-hours before ending up with around £25 for their week’s work.
  • (2) The author's experience in private psychoanalytic practice and in Philadelphia's rape victim clinics indicates that these assaults occur frequently.
  • (3) Although the group is constantly the target of an all-out political assault, it has a robust national fundraising operation that allows it to subsidize abortions for poor women and expand to new locations.
  • (4) The attitudes and practices of 96 doctors toward spousal assault victims in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, were investigated by questionnaire surveys distributed to general practitioners.
  • (5) Some have been threatened and assaulted, while others’ homes have been ransacked, their families living in constant fear.
  • (6) I was amazed by the sheer scale of the operation, easily mistaken for a full military assault on a kraken.
  • (7) After Mousa's death, the surviving detainees were subjected to further assaults.
  • (8) Some 300 million women and girls are forced to defecate outside, exposed not only to the risks of disease and bacterial infection, but also harassment and assault by men.
  • (9) Alcohol use appeared to be a significant ingredient in the production of the assaultive behavior in the majority of the cases.
  • (10) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Trump ‘sways malevolently’ behind Hillary Clinton Instead, he began the night by assembling a group of women in a press conference to revisit alleged sexual assaults by Bill Clinton, before confronting his opponent hardest on her private email server.
  • (11) It is Vine who initiated this latest assault on Ed’s character.
  • (12) Sexual assault of women in the United States may have a prevalence rate of 25% or more.
  • (13) Inevitably, and necessarily, Labour has appeared split as the coalition has captured broad public support for its assault on the deficit.
  • (14) Reports of violence associated with delusional misidentification are reviewed and four patients described who were either perpetrators or victims of assaults as a consequence of the syndromes of Frégoli, Intermetamorphosis, Subjective Doubles and Capgras.
  • (15) It is believed that many women have yet to report assaults, and police appealed for people who had not already done so to come forward.
  • (16) Beatings with metal bars and cables were followed by so-called “security checks”, during which women in particular were subjected to rape and sexual assault by male guards.
  • (17) The retired judge’s report outlines multiple rapes and indecent assaults on children by Savile, which she claims were all “in some way associated with the BBC”.
  • (18) Sexual assault victims (1,059) under the age of 17 were evaluated over a period of 44 months in a teaching, metropolitan county emergency room.
  • (19) As Bradford University professor Paul Rogers told Jones, the bombing of Mali "will be portrayed as 'one more example of an assault on Islam'".
  • (20) It doesn't surprise me that a man whose hit song sounded like an assault anthem and featured a video full of naked models would attempt to get back his wife via public pressure and a threatening music video.