ABUSING Synonyms: 140 Similar and Opposite Words

abusing

verb

present participle of abuse

as in bullying

to inflict physical or emotional harm upon if you abuse your pet, he will always have an ugly disposition

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in attacking

to criticize harshly and usually publicly a demanding, difficult patient who constantly abuses the nurses and aides

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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

as in exploiting

to take unfair advantage of abused his parents' trust, pilfering small amounts from them that he hoped they wouldn't notice

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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 The woman Morris was convicted of abusing, Cindy Clemishire, has filed a $1 million defamation suit against Morris, the church, former and current elders, and a former church employee in Dallas County. — Giles Hudson, CBS News, 1 Aug. 2026 One of them, a shorter, bearded man with a nose reddened and swollen from years of abusing liquor, gave a low whistle. — Carly Tagen-Dye, PEOPLE, 31 July 2026 Medicaid insurers warned Kentucky was one of the only states that allowed this service to be billed for separately, and providers were abusing it. — Alex Acquisto, ProPublica, 30 July 2026 Earlier this month, two other former detainees filed a separate lawsuit accusing Perales of grooming and abusing them as boys. — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 27 July 2026 In the last two weeks, two Illinois House Democrats have been exposed for allegedly misusing their offices, engaging in reprehensible conduct and abusing the public trust placed in them as state representatives. — Amy Elik, Chicago Tribune, 26 July 2026 Ashley accused Doug of psychologically abusing her, but prosecutors argued the allegations were unsupported by the evidence. — Stephanie Nolasco, FOXNews.com, 25 July 2026 Turay’s glassy guitar licks have a Metheny-ish tint to them, while Bemis opts to ride quick, slinky rhythms rather than abusing his crash cymbal. — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 23 July 2026 DeKalb deputy adds to concerning trend in Georgia The arrest of the DeKalb deputy adds to a growing list of law enforcement officials who have been caught abusing the license plate data they have been given access to and tasked with protecting. — Irene Wright, USA Today, 21 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for abusing

Verb

This is an agency with a history of billing scandals, of union bosses bullying pushover pols, of robust pensions and sweetheart health and dental plans that require little or no payment by employees.

— Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2026
For a long time, our leading hypothesis was bullying and violence, but that may be a bit impractical, given their kingdoms are vast networks of tunnels that can stretch for up to three kilometers.

— Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 21 July 2026

Definition of bullying

Verb

Iran has bombarded several of its neighbors’ data centers, and the United States responded by attacking one of Iran’s.

— David Goldman, CNN Money, 3 Aug. 2026
That’s in stark contrast to their arachnid cousins, spiders, whose females that tend to be violent, attacking and eating the males.

— Christa Lesté-Lasserre, Scientific American, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of attacking

Verb

In the last two months, authorities have announced cases involving three Cherokee County sheriff's deputies, five Albany police officers and three Richmond County officers, and others accused of misusing Georgia's license plate reader databases.

— Dan Raby, CBS News, 31 July 2026
Beijing’s Commerce Ministry accused Washington of misusing national security and discriminating against Chinese companies.

— Ron Schmelzer, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026

Definition of misusing

Verb

Most real-world cybercrime still relies on easier and cheaper methods, such as exploiting software vulnerabilities, stealing credentials, phishing, malware and ransomware.

— Chetan Jaiswal, The Conversation, 30 July 2026
Proofpoint and the National Security Agency jointly warned last week that the group, also tracked as Laundry Bear and Void Blizzard, had been carrying out similar attacks by exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in an email service from Zimbra.

— Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 30 July 2026

Definition of exploiting

Verb

Chilean prosecutors believe Ojeda died while his captors were torturing him to get information about the Venezuelan political opposition.

— Sebastian Rotella, ProPublica, 10 July 2026
In addition to its prior ties to al-Qaeda, HTS has been accused by the UN and other organizations of human rights abuses against women and children, as well as torturing and executing detainees.

— Connor Greene, Time, 8 July 2026

Definition of torturing

Verb

But according to rocket scientists at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), slamming a nuclear warhead directly into the side of a space rock is a rookie mistake.

— Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 3 Aug. 2026
Charlotte faced off with Lash Legend, and Lash got the better of Charlotte by slamming her on a ladder.

— Alfred Konuwa, Forbes.com, 2 Aug. 2026

Definition of slamming

Verb

Investigators said Summers was using his phone extensively before the crash, driving 73-75 mph, and tested positive for cocaine and opiates.

— Chadd Cripe. Produced with AI assistance, Idaho Statesman, 30 July 2026
The competition series featured masters of shamanism, tarot, face and foot reading, saju and other divination disciplines competing in challenges that tested their abilities, using tools including fans, bells, dowsing rods and modern-day laptops.

— Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 30 July 2026

Definition of using

Verb

Rezaei accused Washington of violating the memorandum of understanding and launching attacks without first referring the issue to the dispute resolution committee.

— Hanna Ziady, CNN Money, 4 Aug. 2026
The genocide case is before the International Court of Justice, where South Africa has accused Israel of violating the Genocide Convention.

— Arielle Kaden, New York Daily News, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of violating

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“Abusing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abusing. Accessed 5 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of abusing

verb

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