(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.
Wrongful
Definition:
(a.) Full of wrong; injurious; unjust; unfair; as, a wrongful taking of property; wrongful dealing.
Example Sentences:
(1) In this book, he dismisses Freud's idea of penis envy - "Freud got it spectacularly wrong" - and said "women don't envy the penis.
(2) But this is to look at the outcomes in the wrong way.
(3) It is not that the concept of food miles is wrong; it is just too simplistic, say experts.
(4) "But this is not all Bulgarians and gives a totally wrong picture of what the country is about," she sighed.
(5) No malignant tumour failed to be diagnosed (100% reliable), the anatomopathological examination of specimens in benign conditions was never wrong (100% reliable).
(6) The Bible treats suicide in a factual way and not as wrong or shameful.
(7) "That attracted all the wrong sorts for a few years, so the clubs put their prices up to keep them out and the prices never came down again."
(8) More than half of carers said they were neglecting their own diet as a result of their caring responsibilities, while some said they were eating the wrong things because of the stress they are under and more than half said they had experienced problems with diet and hydration.
(9) A final experiment confirmed a prediction from the above theory that when recalling the original sequence, omissions (recalling no word) will decrease and transpositions (giving the wrong word) will increase as noise level increases.
(10) Other details showed the wrong patient undergoing a heart procedure, and the wrong patient given an invasive colonoscopy to check their bowel.
(11) Mulholland and others have tried to portray the Leeds case in terms of right or wrong.
(12) And of course, as the articles are shared far and wide across the apparently much-hated web, they become gospel to those who read them and unfortunately become quasi-religious texts to musicians of all stripes who blame the internet for everything that is wrong with their careers.
(13) And I was a little surprised because I said: ‘Doesn’t sound like he did anything wrong there.’ But he did something wrong with respect to the vice-president and I thought that was not acceptable.” So that’s clear.
(14) The fitting element to a Cabrera victory would have been thus: the final round of the 77th Masters fell on the 90th birthday of Roberto De Vicenzo, the great Argentine golfer who missed out on an Augusta play-off by virtue of signing for the wrong score.
(15) "I don't think that people are waiting for the wrong solution."
(16) I can’t hear those wrong notes any more,” she says.
(17) "This crowd of charlatans ... look for one little thing they can say is wrong, and thus generalise that the science is entirely compromised."
(18) Eleven women have died in India and dozens more are in hospital, with 20 listed as critically ill, after a state-run mass sterilisation campaign went horribly wrong.
(19) in horses is imputed to the small numbers of people involved in the work, to the conservation of the authorities responsible for breeding, to the wrong choice of stallions for A.I.
(20) The Sun editor also said his newspaper was wrong to use the word "tran" in a headline to describe a transexual, saying that he felt that "I don't know this is our greatest moment, to be honest".