(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.
Pejorative
Definition:
(a.) Implying or imputing evil; depreciatory; disparaging; unfavorable.
Example Sentences:
(1) The concept of "polypharmacy", a pejorative and meaningless term, nevertheless gave rise to useful surveys on combined drug use, to methods of monitoring and controlling multiple drug use, and to a small number of studies which imply that a few psychoactive drug-drug combinations are rational.
(2) The radiological analysis of femoro-tibial compartments in comparison with the non operative side showed a clear pejorative difference in one case, moderate in 5 without incriminating the morphological type.
(3) That is a pejorative accusation, that’s not the phrase that I would use to describe what I read about this week,” Kaine said.
(4) At the beginning, David Cameron spoke respectfully of "President Mubarak" and the "Egyptian government"; by this weekend, the prime minister is using the much more pejorative "regime" to describe the crumbling autocracy.
(5) Sudden, unpredictable mood swings are common and there is a greater tendency for their physicians to diagnose personality disorders, often in pejorative terms.
(6) Three factors were found to be statistically significant: adjuvant hormonotherapy, loco-regional metastases, adjuvant adriamycin containing regimen (pejorative prognostic factor).
(7) He also memorably attacked Obama for investing $90bn on "green energy" – a phrase delivered as a pejorative.
(8) Lymph node involvement appeared to be the most pejorative factor (p < or = 10(-5)).
(9) He said the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday had also signed up to the editors' code of practice, which states that pejorative references to someone's sexuality must be avoided.
(10) Steven Hughes says that Talking Man is Steve Wilson: "And I wish he'd stop Lawrenson using 'sad', as a pejorative term, when 'Lawro' talks about all the ephemera that surrounds football - like statistics and such.
(11) (You need to know that "dog" is pejorative slang in America for an ill-favoured woman).
(12) A multifactorial analysis enabled us to quantify the pejorative impact on fertility of each of the factors which significantly affect the fertility results.
(13) Jeremy Clarkson , put on final warning by the BBC earlier this year, deliberately used a pejorative racial term to refer to an Asian man on BBC2’s Top Gear, causing offence without justification and breaching broadcasting rules.
(14) As far as irreducible tinnitus are concerned, as anxiety is the most pejorative parameter, not discouraging the patient is very important.
(15) The description of east Jerusalem as ‘occupied east Jerusalem’ is a term freighted with pejorative implications, which is neither appropriate nor useful,” Brandis told the Senate estimates hearing.
(16) Society's negative and pejorative attitude toward the disabled is discussed to explain the psychological trauma associated with any first or second disability.
(17) Lebanese band the Great Departed use oudh music and untranslatable cultural references to target Isis – “Daesh” in the pejorative Arabic term – to side-splitting laughter in Beirut nightclubs.
(18) "However, the court did not appreciate that when national newspapers make repeated irrelevant references to my sexuality – particularly in the context of pejorative and stereotypical reference to appearance – it amounts to the same kind of mocking which the court has confirmed is unacceptable.
(19) According to pastor Joy, among themselves party members often use the pejorative expression yang jiao to designate Christianity.
(20) It makes the point that the term "hung parliament" is pejorative, even though many would argue that there is a lot to be said for no one party having an overall majority.