as in to abuse
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon
the foster parent who had been mistreating his charges was sent to jail
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Recent Examples of mistreat
But over time, peatlands have been misunderstood and mistreated.
—
Erin Hassanzadeh, CBS News, 3 Dec. 2025
Two of Parcells’ first moves upon taking over as Miami’s vice president of football operations was to run off Zach Thomas, and to trigger a lifelong beef with Jason Taylor, mistreating both Hall of Famers.
—Omar Kelly
november 4, Miami Herald, 4 Nov. 2025
Ridglan Farms, which was under investigation on allegations of mistreating its dogs, agreed to halt its breeding operation by July 1, meaning employees can no longer breed and sell beagles at the facility.
—Laura Schulte, jsonline.com, 30 Oct. 2025
There have been multiple reports of children being mistreated during enforcement operations.
—Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mistreat
Erin Hassanzadeh, CBS News, 3 Dec. 2025
Two of Parcells’ first moves upon taking over as Miami’s vice president of football operations was to run off Zach Thomas, and to trigger a lifelong beef with Jason Taylor, mistreating both Hall of Famers.
—Omar Kelly
november 4, Miami Herald, 4 Nov. 2025
Ridglan Farms, which was under investigation on allegations of mistreating its dogs, agreed to halt its breeding operation by July 1, meaning employees can no longer breed and sell beagles at the facility.
—Laura Schulte, jsonline.com, 30 Oct. 2025
There have been multiple reports of children being mistreated during enforcement operations.
—Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for mistreat
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mistreat
Verb
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The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said Kayode Agbolade Ogunba allegedly abused patients at a local care home.—
Matthew Rodriguez,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
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The victim-survivor in this case was not the only child Weberman abused.—
Guila Benchimol,
New York Daily News,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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For the second game running, Omari Hutchinson was too easily bullied off the ball in a dangerous area.—
Paul Taylor,
New York Times,
10 Jan. 2026
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Though the basics are similar, the improvements and extras combine to bully its predecessor into storage, and the Roadie 4 now has pride of place in the accessories cubby of my guitar's travel case.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
9 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Discussions with the creative team led to the idea of showing how oppressed the animals were.—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
12 Jan. 2026
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In Russia, Cuba, Iran, Belarus, and Uganda, dictatorships have carried on for decades—oppressing and killing their people, attacking their neighbors, and destabilizing their regions.—
Garry Kasparov,
The Atlantic,
10 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Mistreat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mistreat. Accessed 30 Jan. 2026.
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