MOLESTING Synonyms: 44 Similar and Opposite Words

molesting

verb

present participle of molest

as in mistreating

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for molesting

Verb

For the first half of the episode, our pals at Price, Siffre & Associates are helping an East Coast firm with a class action lawsuit against WorkSource, an AI training company that has been skirting labor laws and mistreating their contractors.

— Noel Murray, Vulture, 6 Nov. 2026
Some federal judges have been accused of mistreating their clerks.

— Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 6 Nov. 2026

Definition of mistreating

Verb

Three of the articles accused the defense secretary of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973 through the administration's military operations against Iran.

— Steve Mollman, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 Nov. 2026
North Carolina law allows the State Board of Education to take control of a school district’s finances if its governing board continues violating financial laws or regulations after receiving a warning and an opportunity to correct the problems.

— Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 15 Nov. 2026

Definition of violating

Verb

Its construction required detonating explosives in the national monument, blasting apart an area called Monument Hill and outraging tribal leaders.

— Ryan Devereaux, ProPublica, 2 Nov. 2026
The Hitlerite hordes are murdering and outraging the peaceful inhabitants of our country, having no mercy on women, children or old people.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2026

Definition of outraging

Verb

Paulina asks Nana, harassing her over eating porridge instead of an apple at lunch.

— Kristian Monroe, NPR, 10 Nov. 2026
The post also addresses recent reports about a woman named Szilvia Berki, who in October 2015 is said to have received an injunction from Brand and Goldsmith that banned Berki from harassing them.

— Lily Ford, HollywoodReporter, 10 Nov. 2026

Definition of harassing

Verb

Earlier this week, The Guardian and ITV News published their report about Walliams, with more than 30 people accusing him of abusing his celebrity and star power to prey on women and teenagers.

— Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 13 Nov. 2026
In that episode, Parker accused Smith of verbally and physically abusing her, details later attested to by her eldest son, of a different father, during the police investigation into her disappearance.

— Cristóbal Reyes, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 Nov. 2026

Definition of abusing

Verb

An Osceola County deputy sheriff was arrested this week, accused of manhandling a 67-year-old woman and falsely charging her with battering him during an early-morning traffic stop, the Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday.

— Cristóbal Reyes, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 Oct. 2026
Hours later, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, announced the suspension of Acosta’s press pass, and, for good measure, falsely accused him of manhandling the aide who wanted the mike back.

— Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of manhandling

Verb

In 2013, Isauro Aguirre and girlfriend Pearl Fernandez killed 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez after torturing him for eight months in a Palmdale residence.

— Leigh Egan, FOXNews.com, 7 Nov. 2026
Tennessee recently paused the practice after prisoner Christa Pike, who was convicted of torturing and killing a classmate in 1995, survived two rounds of a botched lethal injection.

— Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 5 Nov. 2026

Definition of torturing

Verb

In 2022, two corrections officers at the Laurens County Detention Center in South Carolina were arrested and charged with brutalizing an inmate and using a GLOVE device to repeatedly stun them, CNN noted.

— Frank Landymore, Futurism, 12 Aug. 2026
Each competitor was giving it their all with brutalizing chops, tough suplexes and going above and beyond to try to win that championship.

— Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 15 July 2026

Definition of brutalizing

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.

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molesters

molesting

molests

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“Molesting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/molesting. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of molesting

verb

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