frequently_asked_questions_files/Oxford Thesaurus.pdf

abuse v. 1 misuse, misemploy, pervert, misapply, exploit: The
officer abused his authority in ordering the forced march at
midnight. 2 maltreat, ill-use, injure, wrong, hurt, mistreat,
manhandle, ill-treat; damage: I cannot stand by and watch that
drunk abuse his wife and family. 3 malign, revile, censure,
upbraid, assail, objurgate, lambaste, berate, rebuke, scold,
reproach, disparage, traduce, defame, insult, swear at, curse
(at), calumniate, slander, libel, decry, deprecate, vilify, rail
against: In the report the director was abused in the most
virulent terms.
--n. 4 misuse, misusage, misemployment, perversion,
misapplication, misappropriation, Rhetoric catachresis: Beware
of imitating his abuse of the language. 5 addiction,
dependence: They are being treated for drug abuse at the local
clinic. 6 maltreatment, ill-treatment, ill use, fault: It
seemed perfectly natural that he should defend abuses by which
he profited. 7 self-abuse, self-pollution, masturbation,
violation, defilement; corruption: The schoolmasters
consistently lectured the boys against any abuse of themselves.
8 revilement, reviling, execration, vituperation, malediction,
imprecation, tongue-lashing, calumny, calumniation,
vilification, obloquy, scurrility, invective, maligning,
upbraiding, berating, objurgation, scolding; billingsgate: The
two parties, after exchanging a good deal of abuse, came to
blows.
abused adj. 1 misused: Permission to use the office copying machine
has become an abused privilege. 2 maltreated, ill-treated,
mistreated, hurt: It was explained that he had been an abused
child.
abusive adj. 1 insulting, scurrilous, vituperative, calumnious,
offensive, slanderous, libellous, defamatory, censorious,
opprobrious, disparaging, deprecatory, depreciatory, derogatory,
derisory, derisive, reviling, vilifying, vituperative,
reproachful; profane; rude, filthy, dirty, foul, vulgar,
obscene, smutty, vile, thersitical: The Crown refuses to
tolerate abusive satire directed at the king. If I hear another
word of abusive language out of you, I'll wash out your mouth
with soap! 2 perverted, misapplied, improper, wrong, incorrect;
exploitive, exploitative, exploitatory; brutal, cruel,
injurious, hurtful, harmful, destructive: Despite the abusive