as in to abuse
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon
the foster parent who had been mistreating his charges was sent to jail
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
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
-
The pair also pretended that Tammy was allegedly abusing them.—
Charlotte Phillipp,
PEOPLE,
9 Nov. 2025
-
In handing down the sentence, Montenegro said Bonillo understood the scope of his misdeeds, abused his position of trust and used that position to enrich himself while undermining CBP’s main goal.—
Alex Riggins,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
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
-
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
-
When, in reality, not that all Jews have money, but the reality is, for 3000 years, white people who were male and female, had money and didn't have money, were being brutally oppressed.—
Armando Salguero OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
7 Nov. 2025
-
Our systems were built to oppress people of color.—
The Editorial Board,
Oc Register,
19 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mistreat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mistreat. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share