ill-treat
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of ill-treat
First recorded in 1695–1705
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In these quotations, to vanquish foes and destroy enemies does not mean to ill-treat others in any way, or even to seek victory over them in a traditional sense.
From Washington Post • Mar. 11, 2019
If you ill-treat me, George, papa must have something to do with it.
From Is He Popenjoy? by Trollope, Anthony
“Then I wish somebody would ill-treat me along that line,” I interjected.
From The Prairie Child by Ward. E. F. (Edmund Franklin)
I care for their marches, for their wants and food, and protect their women and boys if they ill-treat them; and I do nothing of this.
From General Gordon A Christian Hero by Churchill, Seton
He did not ill-treat the lady, though left all alone with her.
From The White Gauntlet by Reid, Mayne
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
