Abuse Meaning
/əˈbjuːs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounImproper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom.
nounMisuse; improper use; perversion.
Sentence Examples
Words of abuse poured from his lips.
She walked out on her boyfriend after three years of abuse.
We must work together to prevent any form of child abuse.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The organization strictly forbids any form of verbal or physical ____ against its members.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The organization works to prevent the ____ of power in government.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English abusen, then from either Old French abus (“improper use”), or from Latin abūsus (“misused, using up”), perfect active participle of abūtor (“make improper use of, consume, abuse”), from ab (“away”) + ūtor (“to use”). Equivalent to ab- + use.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Dickens was careful to castigate abuses which were being reformed."
— 1948, W. R. Inge, The End of an Age and Other Essays:
"Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power."
— 1788, James Madison, Federalist, Number 63:
"Few concepts are as emotionally charged as that of race. The word conjures up a mixture of associations—culture, ethnicity, genetics, subjugation, exclusion and persecution. But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?"
— 2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2015, page 164:
"RDG explains: "From April 1 2026, the following tickets, Anytime, Off-Peak, Day Travelcards and most Ranger and Rover tickets, will no longer be refundable on the day they become valid for travel." It calls the £40m it thinks it loses "refund abuse", which it explains as "refunds on tickets that have been used but not scanned or endorsed, where a customer falsely states that they did not travel". I'm sure such abuse takes place (and that it's done by passengers). But RDG is taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut and punishing many millions of honest passengers by making tickets more restrictive."
— 2026 March 18, Philip Haigh, “Tickets please: 2p per scan to offset fraudulent refunds?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 48:
"Or is it some abuse, and no such thing?"
— 1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act IV, scene VII:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The organization strictly forbids any form of verbal or physical ____ against its members.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The organization works to prevent the ____ of power in government.