mishandle

1 to inflict physical or emotional harm upon having been shuffled from foster home to foster home, the orphaned girl felt she had been mishandled by an uncaring society Synonyms brutalize, bully, ill-treat, ill-use, kick around, maltreat, manhandle, mess over [slang], abuse, mistreat, misuseRelated Words molest, outrage, violate; harass, harm, hurt, injure, oppress, persecute, torment, torture; burn, sandbag, victimize, wrong; beat (up), mess (up), rough (up), work (over)Near Antonyms care (for), cherish, foster, nurture; baby, cater (to), coddle, favor, gratify, humor, indulge, mollycoddle, pamper, spoil

2 to abuse physically adopted a sadly mishandled puppy from the pound Synonyms maltreat, maul, manhandle, rough (up)Related Words abuse, ill-treat, ill-use, mistreat, misuse; roughhouse, wrestle; bash, batter, beat, buffet, drub, lambaste (or lambast), lick, pommel, pound, pummel, slap, thrash; harm, hurt, injure, wound; oppress, persecute, wrong; ambush, assail, attack; clobber, fight, gang up (on), hit, jump, knock; torment, tortureNear Antonyms caress, fondle, pet; coddle, mollycoddle, pamper; care (for), foster, nurture

3 to manage badly we took over as soon as we realized that the fill-in had been mishandling the situation Synonyms maladminister, misconduct, misgovern, mismanage, misruleRelated Words abuse, ill-treat, ill-use, maltreat, mistreat, misuse; damage, harm, hurt, violate; botch, bungleNear Antonyms govern, handle, husband, manage, rule; care (for), nurture; aid, help, protect, rescue