(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.) 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.
Maltreatment
Definition:
Example Sentences:
(1) Half the adolescents completed the child maltreatment instrument first, while the rest completed the pet maltreatment instrument.
(2) Thirteen family psychosocial characteristics, assessed by admission interview, showed significant association with later maltreatment.
(3) The potential for abuse in the child's caretaker, a child who is somewhat different, and a stressful situation are ingredients which often interact to produce maltreatment.
(4) Eighty-one percent of programs had an interdisciplinary team for suspected cases of child maltreatment.
(5) The children from the comparison group missed an average of 8.5% of the school year prior to their index maltreatment report and 7.2% of their most recent year in school.
(6) However, there may be uncertainty among pediatricians concerning what should be documented in the medical record in cases of child maltreatment.
(7) Cross-cultural research also reveals that certain categories of children--such as those in poor health, females, unwanted children and those born under difficult circumstances or with disvalued traits or under conditions of rapid socioeconomic change--are more vulnerable to maltreatment in many countries.
(8) We conducted a historical cohort study of the impact of foster care on subsequent school performances for 114 children placed in foster care because of maltreatment.
(9) This is because we now understand that neglect is every bit as damaging to a child as other forms of maltreatment.
(10) The nuns who were supposed to care for him were "bordering on the psychotic" in the way they maltreated him and other children, the witness said.
(11) An algorithm was established at the Department of Internal Medicine of the National Institute of Pediatrics (INP) during 10 months, that indicates the steps to be followed when a patient with suspicion of maltreatment is hospitalized.
(12) He found that the volumes of three important areas of the hippocampus were reduced by up to 6.5% in people exposed to several instances of maltreatment – such as physical or verbal abuse from parents – in their early years.
(13) As psychologists have become increasingly involved in the investigatory and adjudicative phases of child maltreatment cases and as criminal prosecutions have become increasingly common in such cases, the ethical problems facing psychologists have become more acute.
(14) Analyses revealed that adolescents represent a substantial proportion of all victims of official child maltreatment reports.
(15) When they left care they brought with them this history of trauma and maltreatment and alienation from their families, mental and [physical health difficulties and this often has very serious intergenerational effects.
(16) Cohort differences in maternal education, type of abuse, history of prior maltreatment, sex, and race were controlled in the analysis.
(17) Children who had suffered maltreatment exhibited significantly greater incidences of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder diagnoses than did controls, on both child and parent DICA interviews.
(18) When obvious historical evidence or a heightened suspicion for an acute inhalational exposure does not exist, misdiagnosis and maltreatment are likely to occur.
(19) Perceived competence and social acceptance scores of 17 maltreated children enrolled in therapeutic day treatment were compared to those of 17 maltreated children who had not received the program services.
(20) "Thus, the authors took advantage of this gradient to indirectly test the mechanisms through which childhood maltreatment could affect the brain."