abusing

verb

present participle of abuse
1
as in bullying
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon if you abuse your pet, he will always have an ugly disposition

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in attacking
to criticize harshly and usually publicly a demanding, difficult patient who constantly abuses the nurses and aides

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in misusing
to put to a bad or improper use if you abuse your baseball bat by using it to hammer nails, don't expect it to last long

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
4
as in exploiting
to take unfair advantage of abused his parents' trust, pilfering small amounts from them that he hoped they wouldn't notice

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 abusing Communities from Lansing, Michigan, to Pflugerville, Texas, are ending their relationship with Flock, largely over concerns regarding out-of-control surveillance, unwanted data sharing, high expenses, and reports of police abusing the tool. — Cyrus Farivar, ArsTechnica, 28 Aug. 2026 Countless cops, meanwhile, are abusing the cameras to stalk women. — Frank Landymore, Futurism, 27 Aug. 2026 Gianluca Prestianni, who was disciplined for verbally abusing Vinícius Júnior in the Champions League last season, scored twice for Benfica. — ABC News, 27 Aug. 2026 The Flock Safety system has been lauded by law enforcement for its investigative capacity, while critics point to the growing list of officers charged with abusing the license plate reader as an example of its overreach and civil liberty violations. — Mark Morales, CNN Money, 26 Aug. 2026 Last week, a Boone County man was charged with abusing his 3-month-old daughter. — Jane Park, Cincinnati Enquirer, 24 Aug. 2026 In addition to many successes, there is no record of his office abusing employees, leaking passwords, giving the public false information, or losing expensive reports. — Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 21 Aug. 2026 Roell was later accused of abusing nonverbal special-needs students at Crosby Elementary School, authorities said. — Shambhavi Rimal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 19 Aug. 2026 Conviser’s case, which was partially dismissed for lack of standing, accused legendary DePaul softball coach Eugene Lenti of verbally and mentally abusing his athletes and physically assaulting a staffer. — Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 17 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abusing
  1. bullying
  2. attacking
  3. misusing
  4. exploiting
  5. torturing
  6. slamming
  7. using
  8. violating
Verb
  • Trump has been bullying Canada since the start of his second term.
    — Robert B. Reich, Hartford Courant, 25 Aug. 2026
  • The source said the TCU staff was aware of mounting tensions, but viewed it as just a part of competitive football in fall camp, not bullying.
    — Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of bullying
Verb
  • Generally, these hunters do not start attacking cells unless there is a reason to do so, such as inflammation, a key marker of infection.
    — Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Aug. 2026
  • For example, Way of the Sword rewards defensive play in the form of Issen, powerful counterattacks that are triggered by attacking before an enemy strikes.
    — Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of attacking
Verb
  • The Washington Post and other news outlets have recently reported on incidents of individual police officers misusing information collected by license plate readers for personal reasons, such as tracking the movements of former romantic partners.
    — Joseph Flaherty, Arkansas Online, 28 Aug. 2026
  • She was arrested two days later on charges of misusing a license plate reader system.
    — Kenny Jacoby, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of misusing
Verb
  • Far from being a theoretical threat, at least one active attack is already exploiting the mixup.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The other problem is that hackers are exploiting AI to uncover new software vulnerabilities and infiltrate networks at a superhuman rate.
    — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of exploiting
Verb
  • The shape-shifting eldritch entity of mysterious origins relishes torturing children.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Aug. 2026
  • But, if not, then stop using the existence of those goals as a way of torturing yourself.
    — Eric Thomas, Sun Sentinel, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of torturing
Verb
  • Meanwhile, Talarico is barnstorming the state, slamming Republicans mostly on kitchen table issues like stubborn inflation and the price of gas that has skyrocketed due to Trump’s war with Iran.
    — Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 28 Aug. 2026
  • There was little time for anyone to flee as flash floods decimated villages, slamming into houses, roads, bridges and power plants.
    — Megan De Mar, CBS News, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of slamming
Verb
  • Researchers have developed a new vision algorithm that lets humanoid robots perceive depth more like humans, using two forward-facing eyes.
    — Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Earlier this month, The Financial Times appended a note to a guest column after readers questioned whether it was written using AI.
    — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of using
Verb
  • The Seoul Central District Court convicted Han, widow of church founder Sun Myung Moon, of violating the political funds act, bribery and embezzling church funds, the court said in a statement.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 31 Aug. 2026
  • The bill also increases the maximum penalties for violating local fireworks ordinances to $1,000 for a first offense, $2,000 for a second offense and $5,000 for each additional offense within five years of the first.
    — Daniel Lempres, Sacbee.com, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of violating

Browse Nearby Words

abuses
abusing
abusive
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Cite this Entry

“Abusing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abusing. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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