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Definition

Abuse is defined as any thing that is harmful, injurious, or offensive. Abuse also includes excessive and wrongful misuse of anything. There are several major types of abuse: physical and sexual abuse of a child or an adult, substance abuse, elderly abuse, and emotional abuse.

Description

Physical abuse of a child is the infliction of injury by an other person. The injuries can include punching, kicking, biting, burning, beating, or pulling the victim's hair. The physical abuse inflicted on a child can result in bruises, burns, poisoning, broken bones, and internal hemorrhages. Physical assault against an adult primarily occurs with women, usually in the form of domestic violence. It is estimated that approximately three million children witness domestic violence every year.

Sexual abuse of a child refers to sexual behavior between an adult and child or between two children, one of whom is dominant or significantly older. The sexual behaviors can include touching breasts, genitals, and buttocks; either dressed or undressed. The behavior can also include exhibitionism, cunnilingus, fellatio, or penetration of the vagina or anus with sexual organs or objects.

Pornographic photography is also used in sexual abuse with children. Reported sex offenders are 97% male. Females are more often perpetrators in child-care settings, since children may confuse sexual abuse by a female with normal hygiene care. Sexual abuse by stepfathers is five times more common than with biological fathers. Sexual abuse of daughters by stepfathers or fathers is the most common form of incest.

Sexual abuse can also take the form of rape. The legal definition of rape includes only slight penile penetration in the victim's outer vulva area. Complete erection and ejaculation are not necessary. Rape is the perpetration of an act of sexual intercourse whether:

• will is overcome by force or fear (from threats or by use of drugs).
• mental impairment renders the victim incapable of rational judgment.
• if the victim is below the legal age established for consent.

Substance abuse is an abnormal pattern of substance usage leading to significant distress or impairment. The criteria include one or more of the following occurring within a 12-month period:

• recurrent substance use resulting in failure to fulfill obligations at home, work, or school.
• using substance in situations that are physically dangerous (i.e., while driving).
• recurrent substance-related legal problems.
• continued usage despite recurrent social and interpersonal problems (i.e., arguments and fights with significant other).

Abuse in the elderly is common and occurs mostly as a result of caretaker burnout, due to the high level of dependency frail, elderly patients usually require. Abuse can be manifested by physical signs, fear, and delaying or not reporting the need for advanced medical care. Elderly patients may also exhibit financial abuse (money or possessions taken away) and abandonment.

Emotional abuse generally continues even after physical assaults have stopped. In most cases it is a personally tailored form of verbal or gesture abuse expressed to illicit a provoked response.

— Laith Farid Gulli, M.D.; Bilal Nasser, M.Sc.

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tr.v., a·bused, a·bus·ing, a·bus·es.

1. To use wrongly or improperly; misuse: abuse alcohol; abuse a privilege.
2. To hurt or injure by maltreatment; ill-use.
3. To force sexual activity on; rape or molest.
4. To assail with contemptuous, coarse, or insulting words; revile.
5. Obsolete. To deceive or trick.

n. (ə-byūs')

1. Improper use or handling; misuse: abuse of authority; drug abuse.
2. Physical maltreatment: spousal abuse.
3. Sexual abuse.
4. An unjust or wrongful practice: a government that commits abuses against its citizens.
5. Insulting or coarse language: verbal abuse.

idiom:

abuse oneself Vulgar.

1. To masturbate.

[Middle English abusen, from Old French abuser, from abus, improper use, from Latin abūsus, past participle of abūtī, to misuse : ab-, away; see ab–¹ + ūtī, to use.]

abuser a·bus'er n.

SYNONYMS  abuse, misuse, mistreat, ill-treat, maltreat. These verbs mean to treat wrongfully or harmfully. Abuse applies to injurious or improper treatment: “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us” (Aldo Leopold). Misuse stresses incorrect or unknowledgeable handling: “How often misused words generate misleading thoughts” (Herbert Spencer). Mistreat, ill-treat, and maltreat all share the sense of inflicting injury, often intentionally: “I had seen many more patients die from being mistreated for consumption than from consumption itself” (Earl of Lytton). The army had orders not to ill-treat the prisoners. “When we misuse [a language other than our native language], we are in fact trying to reduce its element of foreignness. We let ourselves maltreat it as though it naturally belonged to us” (Manchester Guardian Weekly).

verb

1. To use wrongly and improperly: misapply, misappropriate, mishandle, misuse, pervert. See treat well/treat badly/treat.
2. To take advantage of unfairly: exploit, impose, presume, use. See treat well/treat badly/treat.
3. To hurt or injure by maltreatment: ill-treat, ill-use, maltreat, mishandle, mistreat, misuse. See help/harm/harmless.
4. To attack with harsh, often insulting language: assail, rail against (or at), revile, vituperate. See praise/blame.

noun

1. Wrong, often corrupt use: misapplication, misappropriation, mishandling, misuse, perversion. See treat well/treat badly/treat.
2. Physically harmful treatment: ill-treatment, maltreatment, mishandling, mistreatment, misusage. See help/harm/harmless.
3. Harsh, often insulting language: billingsgate, contumely, invective, obloquy, railing, revilement, reviling, scurrility, scurrilousness, vituperation. See praise/blame.

n

Definition: injuring, physical hurting
Antonyms: aid, help, preservation, respect

n

Definition: verbal attack
Antonyms: acclamation, adulation, approval, commendation, plaudit, praise

v

Definition: attack with words
Antonyms: acclaim, adulate, approve, commend, compliment, praise

v

Definition: physically hurt or injure
Antonyms: cherish, defend, help, preserve, protect, respect

v

Definition: take advantage of
Antonyms: cherish, esteem, honor, respect, revere, treasure

v

Definition: use wrongly
Antonyms: benefit, care for, esteem, prize, respect, revere

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n

The improper use of program benefits, resources, and/or services by either dentists, institutions, or patients.

1. Violation of established uses in Classical architecture.

2. Corruption of form. Abuses according to Palladio included brackets, consoles, or modillions supporting (or seeming to support) a major structural load, e.g. a column; broken or open-topped pediments; exaggerated overhangs of cornices; and rusticated or banded columns (see band). Perrault and others identified further abuses: pilasters and columns physically joined, especially at the corner of a building; coupled columns (which Perrault himself employed at the east front of the Louvre in Paris); distortion of metopes by making them wider and rectangular instead of square in abnormally large intercolumniations; omission of the bottom part of the Ionic abacus; Giant Orders instead of an assemblage of Orders; an inverted cavetto moulding joining the plinth under a column-base to the cornice of a pedestal; architrave-cornices (as in Hellenistic Ionic); and entablatures broken or interrupted immediately above a column. Through use many abuses have become acceptable aspects of Classicism.

Bibliography

• Gwilt (1903)
• W.Papworth (1852)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Everything that is contrary to good order established by usage. Departure from reasonable use; immoderate or improper use. Physical or mental maltreatment. Misuse. Deception.

To wrong in speech, reproach coarsely, disparage, revile, and malign.

Misuse, maltreatment or excessive use.

• animal a. — a modern day concept by which the trust that animals should have in humans, in return for the benefits that they bestow, is betrayed when humans abuse animals physically or psychologically. The abuses often stop short of cruelty in a legal sense but can be classified as harassment. The term has a variable but generally wide scope and includes physical cruelty by assault, by deprivation of adequate food, water, transport and shelter, and proper care during illness, pregnancy and parturition, and participation in sporting events at a level beyond the animal's capacity to perform. This form of abuse covers such misuses as riding horses in rodeos, excessively arduous endurance rides, ignominious performances and exhibits, oppressive displays of obedience. Mental or psychological abuse is less readily defined but in today's culture is usually taken to include undue confinement, demeaning performance as entertainment and harassment by teasing.

IN BRIEF: To use in a wrong or improper way; to hurt or insult.

We must not abuse our natural resources

Quotes:

"It's not a slam at you when people are rude -- it's a slam at the people they've met before." - Source Unknown

"The only cure for contempt is counter-contempt." - H. L. Mencken

"A fly may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still." - Samuel Johnson

"People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned." - James Baldwin

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - misbruge
n. - misbrug

Nederlands (Dutch)
(seksueel) mishandelen, beschimpen, uitschelden, misbruiken, (machts) misbruik, (seksuele) mishandeling, beschimping

Français (French)
v. tr. - maltraiter, abuser de, injurier, insulter, abuser physiquement de, malmener
n. - mauvais traitement, sévices, abus, mauvais usage, insulte

Deutsch (German)
v. - mißbrauchen, verletzen, mißhandeln, beschimpfen, vergewaltigen, quälen
n. - Mißbrauch, Beschimpfung, Mißstand

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - καταχρώμαι, κακοποιώ, κακομεταχειρίζομαι, (εξυ)βρίζω, προσβάλλω
n. - κατάχρηση (εξουσίας κτλ.), ύβρεις, βρισιές, κακοποίηση, κακομεταχείριση, σφαλερή ή κακή χρήση

Italiano (Italian)
insultare, abusare di, fare cattivo uso di, maltrattare, ingannare, malmenare, (sex.) violentare, abuso, insulto

idioms:

• alcohol abuse    abuso d'alcol
• animal abuse    maltrattamento di animali
• child abuse    maltrattamento di bambini

Português (Portuguese)
v. - abusar
n. - abuso (m), insulto (m)

idioms:

• alcohol abuse    abuso de álcool
• animal abuse    abuso de animais
• child abuse    abuso de crianças
• term of abuse    termo de abuso

Русский (Russian)
злоупотреблять, плохо обращаться, плохо обращаться, оскорблять, ругать, неправильно направлять, нападать, совращать (малолетних), неправильное употребление, оскорбление, насмешка, колкость

idioms:

• alcohol abuse    злоупотребление алкоголем
• animal abuse    жестокое обращение с животными
• child abuse    жестокое обращение с детьми
• term of abuse    ругательное слово

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - abusar, maltratar, insultar, denigrar, violar, ultrajar
n. - abuso, mal uso, insulto, injuria, maltrato, ultraje

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - missbruka, smäda
n. - missbruk, missförhållande

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
滥用, 毁谤, 辱骂, 伤害, 虐待

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 濫用, 譭謗, 辱罵, 傷害, 虐待
n. - 濫用, 虐待, 辱罵, 傷害

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 남용하다, 학대하다, 잔소리하다
n. - 남용, 학대, 욕설, 악습

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 乱用する, 酷使する, 虐待する, ののしる
n. - 乱用, 悪習, ののしり, 酷使, 虐待

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) إساءة إستعمال, شتم, إساءة معامله (الاسم) مسيء, قاسي, عنيف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮התעלל ב-, השתמש לרעה ב-, ניאץ, גידף, ניצל, תקף (מינית)‬
n. - ‮שימוש לרעה, התעללות, שחיתות, לשון גסה, גידופים‬

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