child abuse

Save This Word!

noun

mistreatment of a child by a parent or guardian, including neglect, beating, and sexual molestation.

QUIZ

ALL IN FAVO(U)R OF THIS BRITISH VS. AMERICAN ENGLISH QUIZ

There's an ocean of difference between the way people speak English in the US vs. the UK. Are your language skills up to the task of telling the difference? Let's find out!

Question 1 of 7

True or false? British English and American English are only different when it comes to slang words.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of child abuse

First recorded in 1970–75

Words nearby child abuse

Chikamatsu, chi kung, chilblain, Chilcat, child, child abuse, child-abuse register, child-battering, childbearing, childbed, childbed fever

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use child abuse in a sentence

Sands was involved in a scandalous-for-the-time romance with the carpenter and there were rumors she was pregnant with his child.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
These were cops who had worked the protests and suffered the accompanying verbal taunts and abuse.
Shot Down During the NYPD Slowdown|Michael Daly|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
You get these high-profile people that go into prison, and the staff abuse their authority.
How a ‘Real Housewife’ Survives Prison: ‘I Don’t See [Teresa Giudice] Having a Cakewalk Here’|Michael Howard|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In Sweden parents can use those days up until the child turns 12.
How Good Dads Can Change the World|Gary Barker, PhD, Michael Kaufman|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST

When they get someone high profile, like the governor [Bob McDonnell] or like Teresa, they will abuse their positions.
How a ‘Real Housewife’ Survives Prison: ‘I Don’t See [Teresa Giudice] Having a Cakewalk Here’|Michael Howard|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
You would not think it too much to set the whole province in flames so that you could have your way with this wretched child.
St. Martin's Summer|Rafael Sabatini
He shrank, as from some one who inflicted pain as a child, unwittingly, to see what the effect would be.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
This is one of the most striking manifestations of the better side of child-nature and deserves a chapter to itself.
Children's Ways|James Sully
The mother's lips could not finish the charge she was about to put upon her innocent child.
The Pastor's Fire-side Vol. 3 of 4|Jane Porter
In Luke it is said, “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom.”
Solomon and Solomonic Literature|Moncure Daniel Conway

British Dictionary definitions for child abuse

child abuse

noun

physical, sexual, or emotional ill-treatment or neglect of a child, esp by those responsible for its welfareSee also nonaccidental injury

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012