1
as in abused
to put to a bad or improper use
an actor who misused his considerable talent by appearing in too many lousy movies
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in bullied
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon
sadly misused by the people he had trusted
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of misused
The co-founder of the now defunct FTX crypto exchange is currently serving a 25-year federal prison sentence after he was found guilty of orchestrating a massive fraud scheme that misused billions of dollars in customer funds at FTX and its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research.
—
Tanaya MacHeel, CNBC, 8 June 2026
Agency chair says data has been misused Early indications of the EEOC's plan to stop gathering data came a year ago.
—Andrea Hsu, NPR, 1 June 2026
The real goal is to identify the actual point of compromise, such as where the data is being misused, who the rogue actor is, which account is the victim, which account is the mule and where the money is really going.
—Muhammad Azeem, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Critics of the Take It Down law fear it could be misused by the FTC.
—James Peckham, PC Magazine, 21 May 2026
Polls showed Collins leading Carter and Dooley heading into the primary, despite his opponents' efforts to highlight allegations that Collins misused congressional funds, which is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
—Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 20 May 2026
Magyar has pledged to create the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds allegedly misused during Orbán’s tenure.
—ABC News, 18 May 2026
And parents and caregivers may not be aware that these items are being misused in this way.
—Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 15 May 2026
Some of those numbers may be completely fabricated, while others may belong to real people whose caller ID information is being misused.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 14 May 2026
Tanaya MacHeel, CNBC, 8 June 2026
Agency chair says data has been misused Early indications of the EEOC's plan to stop gathering data came a year ago.
—Andrea Hsu, NPR, 1 June 2026
The real goal is to identify the actual point of compromise, such as where the data is being misused, who the rogue actor is, which account is the victim, which account is the mule and where the money is really going.
—Muhammad Azeem, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
Critics of the Take It Down law fear it could be misused by the FTC.
—James Peckham, PC Magazine, 21 May 2026
Polls showed Collins leading Carter and Dooley heading into the primary, despite his opponents' efforts to highlight allegations that Collins misused congressional funds, which is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
—Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 20 May 2026
Magyar has pledged to create the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, an authority tasked with investigating and seeking to recover public funds allegedly misused during Orbán’s tenure.
—ABC News, 18 May 2026
And parents and caregivers may not be aware that these items are being misused in this way.
—Katia Hetter, CNN Money, 15 May 2026
Some of those numbers may be completely fabricated, while others may belong to real people whose caller ID information is being misused.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 14 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misused
abused
Verb
-
The fake news, like CNN, like The New York Times, and like others, have abused our people, have abused our people so badly.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
3 June 2026
-
At least 10 women have alleged that Epstein groomed or abused them at the 10,000-acre ranch starting in the mid-1990s, an NBC News review of court testimony, lawsuits and other records found.—
Jon Schuppe,
NBC news,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Misused.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misused. Accessed 11 Jun. 2026.
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