as in maltreated
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1
as in bullied
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon
if you abuse your pet, he will always have an ugly disposition
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in attacked
to criticize harshly and usually publicly
a demanding, difficult patient who constantly abuses the nurses and aides
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in misused
to put to a bad or improper use
if you abuse your baseball bat by using it to hammer nails, don't expect it to last long
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in exploited
to take unfair advantage of
abused his parents' trust, pilfering small amounts from them that he hoped they wouldn't notice
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of abused
Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 15 Feb. 2026
This trashy horror-thriller centers on an abused boy (Max Thieriot) who grows up to wreak havoc on a suburban town and the teenager (Lawrence) who cares about him.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 8 Nov. 2025
ABC News, 4 May 2026
Jackson and his estate have denied that the pop star abused children.
—Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for abused
Adjective
There’s Manny, Zitzs and EZ, who has a way with the girls; Izzy, an abused boy who hides his family’s secrets, and Gloria, as good at sports as the boys and so fierce nobody teases her little sister about her stutter.
—Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 15 Feb. 2026
This trashy horror-thriller centers on an abused boy (Max Thieriot) who grows up to wreak havoc on a suburban town and the teenager (Lawrence) who cares about him.
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 8 Nov. 2025
Verb
The daughter of one of those killed in the Bondi attacks said that a year earlier she was verbally abused while carrying her baby in a Sydney shopping mall by a man who spotted her Star of David necklace.
—ABC News, 4 May 2026
Jackson and his estate have denied that the pop star abused children.
—Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for abused
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abused
Verb
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Before competing on Big Brother season 24, Hale won Miss Michigan USA and Miss Congeniality in Miss USA 2021, which became a point of contention when her fellow competitors bullied her for coming off as too much of a pageant queen.—
Bethy Squires,
Vulture,
6 May 2026
-
Awoniyi and Jesus jointly bullied Tosin and Chalobah whenever Forest kicked long.—
Simon Johnson,
New York Times,
4 May 2026
Verb
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Hezbollah, the Lebanese paramilitary force, has attacked Israeli troops and targeted northern Israel with rockets and drones.—
Sudarsan Raghavan,
New Yorker,
12 May 2026
-
While the man was being attacked, the woman used a shopping cart to fend off the suspect and protect the male victim.—
Tim Fang,
CBS News,
11 May 2026
Verb
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Magyar’s government plans to investigate and recover public funds misused under Orbán while ordering appointees to step down and joining EU corruption probes.—
Justin Spike,
Los Angeles Times,
12 May 2026
-
Magyar plans to establish a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and recovering public funds misused during Orbán's tenure.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
9 May 2026
Verb
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These types of vulnerabilities can be exploited through normal user behavior, such as browsing to a web page.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
7 May 2026
-
Already at this early stage, the producer must think about all the markets in which the film, its brand, and its characters can be exploited and not just about the theaters where it will be screened.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
5 May 2026
Verb
-
Barahona and his wife, Carmen, beat and tortured the twins, tying them with electrical cord and shocking them in a bathtub with the door locked, investigators said.—
Grethel Aguila,
Miami Herald,
6 May 2026
-
The expression on Moss-Bachrach’s face is tortured and tired, like just thinking about this awful day with Mikey took time off his life — and then, another awful thing.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
5 May 2026
Verb
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In 2022, similar detection work resulted in NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which slammed the DART spacecraft into the small asteroid Dimorphos orbiting the larger asteroid Didymos, changing the orbits of both child and parent around the sun.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
10 May 2026
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The president also slammed Schumer and his allies in the lengthy post.—
Bailey Richards,
PEOPLE,
10 May 2026
Verb
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The Constitution has been perverted in ways by administrations on both sides of the aisle to facilitate military action.—
Rebecca Noel,
Charlotte Observer,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Organized sports can easily be perverted.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
1 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Depending on the time of year, highlights include the new rhododendron gardens, the all-glass Palm House, the new Butterfly House, and the Nordic Beer Garden, highlighting plants used by Nordic brewers.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
12 May 2026
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For the project, the ORNL researchers used two specialized instruments to study how these molten salts behave under reactor-like conditions.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
12 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Abused.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abused. Accessed 13 May. 2026.
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