ill-use
Americanverb (used with object)
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ill-uses,
present (3rd person singular)
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ill-used,
past participle, past
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ill-using
present participle
noun
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ill-usesimple
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ill-usessimple
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have ill-usedperfect
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has ill-usedperfect
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am ill-usingprogressive
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are ill-usingprogressive
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is ill-usingprogressive
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have been ill-usingperfect progressive
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has been ill-usingperfect progressive
Past
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ill-usedsimple
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had ill-usedperfect
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was ill-usingprogressive
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were ill-usingprogressive
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had been ill-usingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ill-use
First recorded in 1835–45
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.
See Examples For:
"She did not ill-use me. Indeed, I do not believe that she ever knew that I was there at all. Is that not peculiar?"
From "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman
Alvarado, therefore, sent them a most polite invitation to come and make a friendly alliance with him; but all the answer they returned was to ill-use the messengers.
From The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 2 (of 2) Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain. by Bernal Díaz del Castillo
"But mind what you are about, my sparky, and don't think to ill-use me because you happen to be the strongest!"
From The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 2 of 6 by Eugène Sue
And to think that any man could ill-use a creature like that,” half to herself; but Fay drooped her head as she heard her.
From Wee Wifie by Rosa Nouchette Carey
I see that misfortunes always overtake those who ill-use others.”
From Boys and Girls Bookshelf (Vol 2 of 17) Folk-Lore, Fables, And Fairy Tales by W. J. (Winton James) Baltzell
You'll be good to him, and stand his friend, and teach him seafaring ways, and you'll see that nobody ill-uses him.
From The Sailor by J. C. Snaith
Mr. Watts is too modest in his behaviour, and for that reason the young tyrant despises and ill-uses him.
From Athelstane Ford by Allen Upward
That is, except when he is rude, and ill-uses me, and will not come and apologize!’
From The Hand of Ethelberta by Thomas Hardy
The master of this animal never ill-uses him nor scolds him, and at feeding-time the dogs are always served before the men.
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2 by Henry Yule
The very readable, if long and winding, “The Calamity Club” focuses on a crew of frequently ill-used, tough-minded white women.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
The film tells us that she’s had a storied career; we see only a helicopter mom played by an ill-used Annette Bening.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2022
And actually serious party officials like Spicer were ill-used and degraded.
From US News ● Jul. 20, 2016
But as designed by Christine Jones, with phosphorescent lighting by Chahine Yavroyan, the stage is a spartan snowscape populated by tall, leafless trees that look as if they have been ill-used by humanity and nature.
From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2015
Fortunately there was not yet much heat or quickness in my heart, and I said to myself that he was an ignorant man, a foreigner, ill-used and frightened.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, sir,” cried Sarah; “and here have I been ill-using this poor boy because— Oh, Pompey, Pompey, Pompey!”
From Mass' George A Boy's Adventures in the Old Savannah by W.T. Smith
Then seizing Himboldt by the collar, he accused him of flinging away from the cart the servant who, by his orders, was unbinding the horses, and otherwise ill-using him.
From Tales from the German Comprising specimens from the most celebrated authors by Various
You look very melancholy," said he, "and you are ill-using your glass.
From The Devil's Pool by Jane Minot Sedgwick
It would have been most impolitic to have been patently unkind to her, because it was not well to make a foe of Nara by openly ill-using his heiress.
From The Curse of Koshiu A Chronicle of Old Japan by Lewis Wingfield
For winning love we win the risk of losing, And losing love is as one's life were riven; It cuts like contumely and keen ill-using To cede what was superfluously given.
From Wessex Poems and Other Verses by Thomas Hardy
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.
