What are some opposite words for abuse?
Antonyms for abuse
əˈbyuz; əˈbyusabuse
This page is about all possible antonyms and opposite words for the term abuse.
English Synonyms and Antonyms
abuse
Abuse covers all unreasonable or improper use or treatment by word or act. A tenant does not abuse rented property by "reasonable wear," though that may damage the property and injure its sale; he may abuse it by needless defacement or neglect. It is possible to abuse a man without harming him, as when the criminal vituperates the judge; or to harm a man without abusing him, as when the witness tells the truth about the criminal. Defame, malign, rail at, revile, slander, vilify, and vituperate are used always in a bad sense. One may be justly reproached. To impose on or to victimize one is to injure him by abusing his confidence. To persecute one is to ill-treat him for opinion's sake, commonly for religious belief; to oppress is generally for political or pecuniary motives. "Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy," Deut. xxiv, 14. Misemploy, misuse, and pervert are commonly applied to objects rather than to persons. A dissolute youth misemploys his time, misuses his money and opportunities, harms his associates, perverts his talents, wrongs his parents, ruins himself, abuses every good gift of God.
Antonyms:
applaud, benefit, care for, cherish, conserve, consider, eulogize, extol, favor, laud, panegyrize, praise, protect, regard, respect, shield, sustain, tend, uphold, vindicateSynonyms:
aggrieve, damage, defame, defile, disparage, harm, ill-treat, ill-use, impose on, impose upon, injure, malign, maltreat, misemploy, misuse, molest, oppress, persecute, pervert, prostitute, rail at, ravish, reproach, revile, ruin, slander, victimize, vilify, violate, vituperate, wrong
Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms
abuseverb
Antonyms:
tend, protect, conserve, consider, regard, shield, cherish, praise, extol, laud, vindicate, panegyrize, respectSynonyms:
injure, damage, spoil, maltreat, treat-all, ill-use, ill-treat, retile, scandalize, disparage, reproach, upbraid, asperse, malign, slander, vituperate, prostitute, defame, pervert, misuse, misemploy, vilifyabusenoun
Antonyms:
good-usage, good-treatment, kindness, praise, deference, respectSynonyms:
mistreatment, invective, ill-treatment, opprobrium, scurrility, vituperation, ribaldry, obloquy, reproach, insolence, misusage, ill-usage
Matched Categories
Princeton's WordNet
maltreatment, ill-treatment, ill-usage, abusenoun
cruel or inhumane treatment
"the child showed signs of physical abuse"
Synonyms:
ill-treatment, contumely, vilification, insult, revilement, ill-usage, misuse, maltreatmentabuse, insult, revilement, contumely, vilificationnoun
a rude expression intended to offend or hurt
"when a student made a stupid mistake he spared them no abuse"; "they yelled insults at the visiting team"
Synonyms:
smear, ill-treatment, malignment, contumely, vilification, insult, revilement, ill-usage, misuse, affront, maltreatmentmisuse, abuseverb
improper or excessive use
"alcohol abuse"; "the abuse of public funds"
Synonyms:
ill-treatment, contumely, vilification, insult, revilement, ill-usage, misuse, maltreatmentmistreat, maltreat, abuse, ill-use, step, ill-treatverb
treat badly
"This boss abuses his workers"; "She is always stepping on others to get ahead"
Synonyms:
pervert, maltreat, blackguard, step, tread, pace, clapperclaw, misuse, shout, mistreat, ill-use, ill-treatpervert, misuse, abuseverb
change the inherent purpose or function of something
"Don't abuse the system"; "The director of the factory misused the funds intended for the health care of his workers"
Synonyms:
sophisticate, pervert, shout, vitiate, deprave, debauch, twist, ill-use, blackguard, twist around, subvert, misapply, profane, step, corrupt, debase, misdirect, demoralise, convolute, maltreat, misuse, demoralize, clapperclaw, ill-treat, mistreatabuse, clapperclaw, blackguard, shoutverb
use foul or abusive language towards
"The actress abused the policeman who gave her a parking ticket"; "The angry mother shouted at the teacher"
Synonyms:
hollo, guy, cry out, pervert, shout, clapperclaw, ill-use, blackguard, roast, make fun, shout out, call out, rib, step, mistreat, holler, yell, call, poke fun, jest at, maltreat, misuse, cry, squall, ridicule, outcry, exclaim, ill-treat, scream, laugh atabuseverb
use wrongly or improperly or excessively
"Her husband often abuses alcohol"; "while she was pregnant, she abused drugs"
Synonyms:
pervert, maltreat, blackguard, clapperclaw, mistreat, misuse, shout, step, ill-use, ill-treat
Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated Words
abusenoun
Synonyms:
misuse, misapplication, perversion, profanation, desecration, injury, maltreatment, mistreatment, outrage, offense, invective, contumely, reproach, scurrility, opprobrium, tirade, billingsgate, vilification, violation, rapeabuseverb
Synonyms:
misapply, misuse, pervert, desecrate, violate, profane, maltreat, mistreat, revile, reproach, vilify, vituperate, malign, traduce, violate, ravish, rape
How to use abuse in a sentence?
It raises concerns, of course, that what was underway was an attempt to influence her subordinates in order to benefit her family member, which would be a real abuse of power, a real misuse of her office, meeting with her daughter and these other members of her administration -- with the chief of staff, the general counsel, the secretary of labor -- that suggests that this was not a meeting simply to provide parental counseling and guidance.
Similarly, there continues to be a hideous torrent of abuse towards trans people online and out in the world that is devastating.
The government is responding to public sentiment now, we think that introducing resettlement quotas for migrants without the backing of the people equals an abuse of power.
In my experience you would never move a transcript to the code word system if it does not have any code word terms. If the president is classifying and declassifying stuff he doesn't want to get out, that is an abuse of power and abuse of the system.
The mailbox is the symbol of Amazon's abuse of power. Many of my coworkers don't even trust the mail ballot process because of how much Amazon tainted the process during the first election.
Words popularity by usage frequency
ranking | word | |
---|---|---|
#1528 | consider | |
#1701 | respect | |
#1727 | benefit | |
#2157 | protect | |
#2225 | abuse | |
#3876 | regard | |
#4855 | tend | |
#5455 | favor | |
#6486 | shield | |
#6760 | praise | |
#11256 | sustain | |
#15279 | kindness | |
#19974 | conserve | |
#22440 | uphold | |
#25495 | cherish | |
#27690 | applaud | |
#35828 | deference | |
#70221 | laud | |
#79099 | extol | |
#80199 | vindicate | |
#323815 | eulogize |
Translation
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"abuse." Synonyms.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.synonyms.com/antonyms/abuse>.
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