misuse

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪsˈjuːs/

Noun

misuse (plural misuses)

1. An incorrect, improper or unlawful use of something.
   • 2012 June 4, Lewis Smith, “Queen's English Society says enuf is enough, innit?”, in the Guardian‎:

     The Queen may be celebrating her jubilee but the Queen's English Society, which has railed against the misuse and deterioration of the English language, is to fold.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪsˈjuːz/

Verb

misuse (third-person singular simple present misuses, present participle misusing, simple past and past participle misused or (obsolete) misust)

1. (transitive) To use (something) incorrectly. [from 14th c.]
2. (transitive) To abuse or mistreat (something or someone). [from 14th c.]
3. (transitive) To rape (a woman); later more generally, to sexually abuse (someone). [from 14th c.]
   • 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster 2014, p. 326:

     “If that is true she would be the first case I have ever heard of, as most female captives are misused by the entire tribe.”

4. (obsolete, transitive) To abuse verbally, to insult. [16th-17th c.]
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):
     , II.3.7:

     Socrates was brought upon the stage by Aristophanes, and misused to his face: but he laughed, as if it concerned him not […].