Abuse.
Synonyms:
| aggrieve, | impose on or | oppress, | ruin, |
| damage, | upon, | persecute, | slander, |
| defame, | injure, | pervert, | victimize, |
| defile, | malign, | prostitute, | vilify, |
| disparage, | maltreat, | rail at, | violate, |
| harm, | misemploy, | ravish, | vituperate, |
| ill-treat, | misuse, | reproach, | wrong. |
| ill-use, | molest, | revile, |
Abuse covers all unreasonable or improper use or treatment by word or act. A tenant does not abuse rented property by "reasonable wear," though that may damage the property and injure its sale; he may abuse it by needless defacement or neglect. It is possible to abuse a man without harming him, as when the criminal vituperates the judge; or to harm a man without abusing him, as when the witness tells the truth about the criminal. Defame, malign, rail at, revile, slander, vilify, and vituperate are used always in a bad sense. One may be justly reproached. To impose on or to victimize one is to injure him by abusing his confidence. To persecute one is to ill-treat him for opinion's sake, commonly for religious belief; to oppress is generally for political or pecuniary motives. "Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy," Deut. xxiv, 14. Misemploy, misuse, and pervert are commonly applied to objects rather than to persons. A dissolute youth misemploys his time, misuses his money and opportunities, harms his associates, perverts his talents, wrongs his parents, ruins himself, abuses every good gift of God.
Antonyms:
| applaud, | conserve, | favor, | protect, | sustain, |
| benefit, | consider, | laud, | regard, | tend, |
| care for, | eulogize, | panegyrize, | respect, | uphold, |
| cherish, | extol, | praise, | shield, | vindicate. |