Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use abuse in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Abuse means improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom. Example: “All abuse, whether physical, verbal, psychological or sexual, is bad.”

Examples of abuse by meaning

nounImproper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom.

  • human rights abuses
  • All abuse, whether physical, verbal, psychological or sexual, is bad.
  • Dickens was careful to castigate abuses which were being reformed.1948, W. R. Inge, The End of an Age and Other Essays

nounMisuse; improper use; perversion.

  • But is the tragic history of efforts to define groups of people by race really a matter of the misuse of science, the abuse of a valid biological concept?2012 March-April, Jan Sapp, “Race Finished”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 05 Sep 2015, page...
  • I'm sure such abuse takes place (and that it's done by passengers).2026 March 18, Philip Haigh, “Tickets please: 2p per scan to offset fraudulent refunds?”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 48

nounCoarse, insulting speech; abusive language; language that unjustly or angrily vilifies.

  • children hurling abuse at each other
  • But he and all the southerners who indulge in this abuse in the newspapers should realize that this will not enable us to find a solution to our problem but will merely aggravate it.1950 February 11, Alhaji Na-Alhaji, Gaskiya Fa Ti Kwabo
  • The pair – aged 14 and 15 years old – have been accused of assaulting and shouting abuse at four people in central Southampton, police have said.2020, “Coronavirus: Teenage girls arrested after 'abusing Chinese people wearing face masks in racially-motivated attack'”, in The...

verbTo put to a wrong use; to misapply; to use improperly; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert.

  • He abused his authority.

verbTo injure; to maltreat; to hurt; to treat with cruelty, especially repeatedly.

  • And I would have things to say to this God at the judgement, storming at him, as Job stormed with the eloquence of the abused heart.a. 1990, R. S. Thomas, At It
  • The trailer goes on to explain that Magnotta gruesomely abuses these kittens.2020 February 6, Alicia Lee, “Netflix is finally letting you stop previews from automatically playing. Here’s how to do it”, in CNN...

verbTo attack with coarse language; to insult; to revile; malign; to speak in an offensive manner to or about someone; to...

  • But ever and always curse him and abuse him.1904, W. B. Yeats, The King's Threshold
  • So we were angered by this and we could not tolerate this one because prophet Mohammed has been abused so many times in this country.1991, Yakubu Yahaya, quoted in: 2001, Toyin Falola, Violence in Nigeria: The Crisis of Religious Politics and Secular Ideologies, p. 199
  • However, shortages have seen customers yelling at employees, and abusing staff members as they work frantically to keep up with demand.2020 March 17, Freya Noble, “'Our team are here to help, not hurt': Woolworths urge customers not to abuse staff”, in Nine News, archived...

verbTo violate; defile; to rape; (reflexive) to masturbate.

  • Through “wantonness,” or just by being “idle and alone,” or by the instruction of intimates, the young learn to abuse themselves without learning how wrong and dangerous it is.2003, Thomas W. Laqueur, Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation, New York: Zone Books, →ISBN, retrieved 28 Feb 2022, page 14

More sentences with abuse

  • I came here to buy souvenirs, not to be subjected to a tirade of abuse!From the entry subject
  • Heroin is a Schedule I drug with a high potential for abuse.From the entry schedule
  • The tent, made of tough canvas, held up to many abuses.From the entry tough
  • Accusations of abuse were pure extortive calumny in a malicious bid to make money.From the entry calumny
  • The minister claimed that the old benefits system was riddled with abuse and fraud.From the entry riddled
  • After the abuse scandal, the company went into complete radio silence.From the entry radio silence
  • The well-crafted table lasted for many years of use and abuse.From the entry crafted
  • He’s just a schnook. She’s obviously using him but he keeps coming back for more abuse.From the entry schnook
  • She gave me a bellyful of abuse when I arrived home late.From the entry bellyful
  • Dexmethylphenidate is a pharmaceutical that should be kept in secure places because of its potential for abuse.From the entry dexmethylphenidate
  • He blanked out the abuse he had suffered as a child.From the entry blank out
  • Don't let him go hungry - that's child abuse, isn't it?From the entry go hungry
  • I couldn't enjoy life while I was in the grip of drug abuse.From the entry in the grip of
  • After being found guilty of animal abuse, her reputation was in ruins.From the entry in ruins
  • We were left shaken by the revelations of abuse.From the entry shaken
  • For quotations using this term, see Citations:abusing.From the entry abusing
  • The gangs hurled abuse at each other.From the entry hurl
  • That's a slanderous charge of abuse of trust.From the entry charge
  • Discrimination and abuse are examples of inappropriate actions.From the entry inappropriate
  • Her constant nagging was to him a stream of abuse.From the entry stream
  • He unconsciously suppressed his memories of abuse.From the entry suppress
  • Teasing can be seen as a kind of workplace abuse.From the entry teasing
  • His verbal abuse was not relatable to polite ears.From the entry relatable
  • Women are more disposed to abuse at home. The only thing to do in that case is to seek institutional help.From the entry in that case
  • Abuse spilled out of her mouth.From the entry spill out

Meaning of abuse

  1. noun Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom.
  2. noun Misuse; improper use; perversion.
  3. noun A delusion; an imposture; misrepresentation; deception.

Full definition of abuse

Questions about abuse in a sentence

How do you use abuse in a sentence?
Abuse is used as a noun and verb. For example: “All abuse, whether physical, verbal, psychological or sexual, is bad.”
What is a short sentence with abuse?
“human rights abuses”
What does abuse mean?
Abuse means improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: abuse (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use abuse in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/abuse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.