What's the difference between abuse and torture?

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.

Torture


Definition:

  • (n.) Extreme pain; anguish of body or mind; pang; agony; torment; as, torture of mind.
  • (n.) Especially, severe pain inflicted judicially, either as punishment for a crime, or for the purpose of extorting a confession from an accused person, as by water or fire, by the boot or thumbkin, or by the rack or wheel.
  • (n.) The act or process of torturing.
  • (v. t.) To put to torture; to pain extremely; to harass; to vex.
  • (v. t.) To punish with torture; to put to the rack; as, to torture an accused person.
  • (v. t.) To wrest from the proper meaning; to distort.
  • (v. t.) To keep on the stretch, as a bow.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The denial of justice to victims of British torture, some of which Britain admits, is set to continue.
  • (2) Hayden had argued that the harsher interrogation techniques had provided valuable information and said that the techniques did not amount to torture.
  • (3) The court hearing – in a case of the kind likely to be heard in secret if the government's justice and security bill is passed – was requested by the law firm Leigh Day and the legal charity Reprieve, acting for Serdar Mohammed, tortured by the Afghan security services after being transferred to their custody by UK forces.
  • (4) "Consider this, all six or so hours of his Champions League finals would have been torture."
  • (5) Lastly, sexually tortured women manifest greater psychological and sexual dysfunction.
  • (6) The government also faced considerable international political pressure, with the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, Juan Méndez, calling publicly on the government to "provide full redress to the victims, including fair and adequate compensation", and writing privately to David Cameron, along with two former special rapporteurs, to warn that the government's position was undermining its moral authority across the world.
  • (7) And it means the Foreign Office dealing with those in the Middle East and North Africa who are on the side of democracy and human rights, not sitting down to tea with torturers.
  • (8) In a 2012 study submitted to the UN, the Petersburg-based centre alleged that Roma and migrants were routinely subjected to police torture .
  • (9) His torturous journey for a safer life has led to no life .
  • (10) The day it opened in the US, three senators – senate select committee on intelligence chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, Carl Levin and John McCain – released a letter of protest to Sony Pictures's CEO, citing their committee's 6,000-page classified report on interrogation tactics and calling on him "to state that the role of torture in the hunt for Osama bin Laden is not based on the facts, but rather part of the film's fictional narrative".
  • (11) But under his government the security forces killed more than 2,000 people, and an estimated 25,000 people were detained without trial and often tortured.
  • (12) Limits are a relief, because they concentrate the drama and free the writer from the torture of choice, as Aristotle knew when he advised playwrights to preserve "the unities" by telling one story in one place over a single day.
  • (13) Sometimes the way the MP [military policeman] holds the head chokes me, and with all the nerves in the nose the tube passing the nose is like torture,” Dhiab said in a legal filing.
  • (14) Diego Garcia guards its secrets even as the truth on CIA torture emerges Read more The long-awaited decision – expected to cause enormous disappointment – follows more than 40 years of campaigning, court cases and calls for the UK to right a wrong committed by Harold Wilson’s Labour government.
  • (15) In his letter Abd El Fattah highlights the arbitrary nature of many of their detentions, the torture to which thousands have probably been subjected – and the apathy towards, and often enthusiasm for, such malpractice among the public.
  • (16) The consequences for Syria have been multiple massacres, ethnic cleansing, torture, a humanitarian crisis and the risk of the country's breakup.
  • (17) While ruling that there had been improper use of Schedule 7 powers, the judge commented: "It was clear that the Security Service, for entirely understandable reasons, was anxious if possible to get information which could not be regarded as tainted by torture allegations or which might confirm the propriety of a control order."
  • (18) All the personality, dignity and humanity of a person are devastated by this torture.
  • (19) You had to let it crash over you.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Miles’s life was torture’ … Lu Spinney at home.
  • (20) Davis said he would be surprised if an incoming Conservative government did not set up an immediate inquiry into this case and others where Britain is alleged to have been involved in the secret rendering by the US of detainees to prison where they were likely to be tortured.