Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Characterized by improper or wrongful use.
  • adjective Using or containing insulting or hurtful language.
  • adjective Causing physical injury to another.
  • adjective Relating to or practicing sexual abuse.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Practising abuse; using harsh words or ill treatment: as, an abusive author; an abusive fellow. Characterized by or containing abuse; marked by contumely or ill use; harsh; ill-natured; injurious.
  • Marked by or full of abuses; corrupt: as, an abusive exercise of power.
  • Misleading, or tending to mislead; employed by misuse; improper.
  • Synonyms and Insolent, insultiug, offensive, scurrilous, ribald, reproachful, opprobrious, reviling.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Wrongly used; perverted; misapplied.
  • adjective Archaic Given to misusing; also, full of abuses.
  • adjective Practicing abuse; prone to ill treat by coarse, insulting words or by other ill usage
  • adjective Containing abuse, or serving as the instrument of abuse; vituperative; reproachful; scurrilous.
  • adjective obsolete Tending to deceive; fraudulent; cheating.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Being physically injurious; characterized by repeated violence.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective expressing offensive reproach
  • adjective characterized by physical or psychological maltreatment

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Earlier this year, temporary workers at a Pennsylvania plant packing Hershey products staged a mass walkout over what they described as abusive working conditions.

    The New Blue Collar: Temporary Work, Lasting Poverty And The American Warehouse 2011

  • Of the $4 trillion in alleged deficit reduction over 10 years, about half would be from tax increases, mostly on what he called "abusive tax shelters and tax havens" and families "sufficiently fortunate to be earning a million dollars a year."

    Conrad Wants $2 Trillion 2011

  • South Korea banned short selling, following Taiwan's move late Monday to limit short-selling volume, while Hong Kong regulators said they plan more aggressive measures against what they called abusive short-selling.

    Regional Indexes End Lower, 2008

  • An Oregon woman has sued the Recording Industry Assocation of America in response to what she calls abusive tactics by the RIAA, including threats to "interrogate" the woman's ten-year-old daughter.

    Recording Industry Going Off the Deep End? Matt Johnston 2007

  • There has been what I call abusive language on both sides.

    CNN Transcript Jun 8, 2007 2007

  • There has been what I call abusive language on both sides.

    CNN Transcript Jun 8, 2007 2007

  • Plus, women who fled what they call abusive arranged marriages in his tightly-guarded community.

    CNN Transcript Sep 9, 2006 2006

  • Plus, women who fled what they call abusive arranged marriages in his tightly-guarded community.

    CNN Transcript Sep 6, 2006 2006

  • New York gossip columnist Lloyd Grove reports that Olbermann now says he shouldn't have replied to what he called abusive and hateful e-mails.

    CNN Transcript Jun 18, 2006 2006

  • Agents will also examine more returns of high-income taxpayers in search of what they call abusive shelters, or transactions with no real economic purpose other than dodging taxes.

    November 2005 2005

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