(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.
Perversion
Definition:
(n.) The act of perverting, or the state of being perverted; a turning from truth or right; a diverting from the true intent or object; a change to something worse; a turning or applying to a wrong end or use.
Example Sentences:
(1) This study reports the analysis of a transvestite man through focusing on his marital interaction and his wife's complementary behavior to his perversion.
(2) And the idea that it is somehow “unfair” to tax a small number of mostly rich people who were lucky enough to buy houses in central London that have soared in value to over £2m is perverse.
(3) That, though, is a perverse way of looking at things.
(4) chocolatiers, I very much enjoy your chocolates but am forced to eat them blindfold because of your perverse decision to cast them into the shapes of seafood.
(5) It was a riveting and perverse study of decadent Parisian student life, the first of his many films in which Chabrol presents an opposition between a Dionysian character (often called Paul or Popaul) and an Apollonian one (often called Charles), the defender of the status quo.
(6) It is difficult for me to resist a slight sense of envy for those anxiously awaiting A-level results this morning, although this may seem perverse.
(7) (Although traffic noise, perversely, might help it.)
(8) Perversity--the "recruitment of love at the service of aggression"--as a threat to the basic fabric of a couple's love life is one alternative to the normal channels for elaboration of aggression in their relationship.
(9) The killing of badgers to somehow “save” dairy and beef cows is perverse.
(10) Hall blamed the "perverse incentives" created by the government's targets as the cause of the rush of multiple entries.
(11) There is a perverse irony that people who have cracked their iPhones are now being targeted by hackers.
(12) The prednisolone test conducted for evaluation of bone-marrow pool of neutrophils has revealed perversed leucocytic reaction in 39.6% of patients.
(13) Relating the aggressive instinct to narcissism and the sexual instinct to perversion, two modes of functioning are presented which have some points in common and some diverging but which show the dynamics involved in physical and sexual abuse.
(14) We can survive this.” The bloodletting had names: two gunmen who came here to execute these “hundreds of idolatrous sinners” attending a “festival of perversion”, as Isis repulsively brands young fans of rock’n’roll.
(15) Social and cultural aspects, a) habits and traditions, b) religious believes, c) tabues, d) nutrition faddism, e) prejudice, aversions and perversions, f) social value of foods, g) industrialized foods.
(16) Soubry compared nicotine to heroin as she spoke of how she found it difficult to give up smoking because nicotine is a "dreadful substance" that creates a "perverse psychology of smoking".
(17) And then, instead of destroying the text, he perversely deposited the manuscript in a Swiss bank vault in the custody of his wife and son.
(18) In a perverse way, it’s a backhanded compliment to what is after all a young coach (he’ll turn 41 at the end of the month) that Kreis, at RSL, gets treated as part of the MLS furniture.
(19) The government's crusade to embed "British values" in our education system is meaningless at best, dangerous at worst, and a perversion of British history in any case.
(20) It is typical of the perverse misalliance that it contains a refusal to participate, with all the attendant disinterest and deadness and lack of creativity usually associated with that condition.