(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.
Molestation
Definition:
(n.) The act of molesting, or the state of being molested; disturbance; annoyance.
Example Sentences:
(1) This article describes a mini-unit to help teachers prevent molestation of elementary school children.
(2) "If everyone on Newsnight knew it was true that Savile was a paedophile, it should not have run a tribute to someone who was molesting girls in wheelchairs before they went on to Top of the Pops .
(3) Forty male and 40 female crisis center clients, evenly divided in terms of molestation history, were examined for possible long-term sequelae of sexual abuse.
(4) The ranges and means of the plasma testosterone level for the rapist and child molester controls were within normal limits.
(5) Sandusky was tried and convicted in 2012 of molesting 10 boys and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.
(6) The move was made as pressure mounted on prosecutors to investigate alleged child molestation.
(7) The two groups of women reported similar sexual experiences at similar ages, except that significantly more women with somatization disorder had been molested as children.
(8) The chaddi [underwear] symbolises vulgarity, something Muthalik's men indulged in when they molested the girls in Mangalore, and pink adds shock value.
(9) Two-thirds of a sample of 535 young women from the state of Washington who became pregnant as adolescents had been sexually abused: Fifty-five percent had been molested, 42 percent had been victims of attempted rape and 44 percent had been raped.
(10) I thought at the time he was a relative and then he started kissing her and running his hands up and down her arms and then started to molest here and there wasn't a think I could do about it because I was laid on my back," she told BBC News.
(11) Donald Etra, Rihanna's attorney, has said he didn't think the strict rules were necessary, but that he and Rihanna favoured a less-stringent ruling that simply ordered Brown not to annoy, harass or molest the 21-year-old pop singer.
(12) Further analysis linked molestation history to suicidality, substance abuse, sexual difficulties, multiple psychiatric diagnoses, and axis II traits or disorders--especially borderline personality.
(13) Doctor Brown In 2011, the American Phil Burgers (AKA bearded silent comic Doctor Brown) performed the funniest comedy show on the fringe : a sexy, stoner clown show that delighted, intrigued and molested its audience.
(14) When Dunham’s own memoir, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s “Learned” , was published this autumn, it was Gould who defended her (on Salon.com ) from rabid right-wing critics who characterised Dunham as a child molester for confessing to peeking at her sister’s vagina when she was seven.
(15) Kristof says Allen should be presumed innocent, but then says: When evidence is ambiguous, do we really need to leap to our feet and lionize an alleged molester?
(16) Being taught to hate your father and made to believe he molested you has already taken a psychological toll on this lovely young woman, and Soon-Yi [Allen’s wife] and I are both hoping that one day she will understand who has really made her a victim and reconnect with us.” The 2,000-word column, which Allen, 78, vowed would be his “final word” on the subject, was published on Friday in response to an open letter from Dylan a week earlier in which she repeated the longstanding accusations against her father .
(17) Both groups experienced the molestation as highly traumatic.
(18) In 2006, two adult men publicly accused Kolko of molesting them as children, one in the late 1960s, another in the mid 1980s.
(19) Thornton was recovering from an operation herself when she said she saw Savile "kissing her neck, running his hands up and down her arms, and then started to molest her".
(20) The experts concluded there was no credible evidence of molestation; that Dylan Farrow had an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality; and that Dylan Farrow had likely been coached by her mother, Mia Farrow.