mistreat
Americanverb (used with object)
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mistreats,
present (3rd person singular)
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mistreated,
past participle, past
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mistreating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
mistreatsimple
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mistreatssimple
-
have mistreatedperfect
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has mistreatedperfect
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am mistreatingprogressive
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are mistreatingprogressive
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is mistreatingprogressive
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have been mistreatingperfect progressive
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has been mistreatingperfect progressive
Past
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mistreatedsimple
-
had mistreatedperfect
-
was mistreatingprogressive
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were mistreatingprogressive
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had been mistreatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mistreat
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English mistreten; see mis- 1, treat
Explanation
If you mistreat someone, you harm them in some way. If you don't feed your cat for three days and refuse to clean its litter box, you are definitely mistreating it. People mistreat each other in all sorts of ways, from the emotional (by belittling, ignoring, or mocking them) to the physical (by hitting or otherwise physically harming them). If you see a neighbor mistreat his dog, you might call the police. If a teacher were to mistreat her students, she could lose her job. This verb adds the "bad or wrong" prefix mis- to treat, from its Latin root tractare, "manage or handle."
Vocabulary lists containing mistreat
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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:
Zambian union leaders said Chinese managers pay poorly and mistreat workers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
One attendee had even brought her sign from 2017, a verse from Leviticus in English and in Hebrew: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.”
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2025
There are a lot of people who mistreat dogs and take dogs for granted.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2024
"It is the public's game and if they choose to mistreat it then they are at risk of losing it," he said.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2024
If he does not mistreat you, then, well . . . one is rather mystified as to the cause of your unhappiness.'
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
When a jerk mistreats us, it can help to have an understanding of why they’ve behaved like a jerk.
From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026
The stunt was meant to support critics of SeaWorld who assert that the park mistreats its orcas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
After a decade-long battle, a former animal trainer has succeeded in his mission of getting a beloved walrus out of Canada's most popular aquatic zoo, which has faced allegations that it mistreats its animals.
From BBC ● May 17, 2023
In the second passage, an excerpt from Petronius’s Satyricon, the formerly enslaved Trimalchio mistreats his own enslaved people during a lavish dinner party.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
And I don’t feel like anybody mistreats me or anything, except sometimes people act too nice, too polite, like they’re afraid they might ask the wrong question .
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
Plus, the Justice Department considers whether Watergate prosecutors mistreated Richard Nixon, and the U.S. is sending a third aircraft-carrier group to the Middle East.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Bush, who ran Legacy Independent Funeral Directors in Hull, was trusted by bereaved families but mistreated them on an "almost industrial scale", Paxton said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
They have called adult protective services repeatedly, claiming that their mom is being mistreated, court documents show, and have tried to monitor her own whereabouts, Ruth said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
In the wake of an internal report alleging that Riverside code enforcement officers mistreated street vendors and entered homes without warrants, advocates have questions:
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
Hisao wrote a letter to his family each day; the food, he said, was not very good, but they were not really being mistreated.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
Before the Rand Refinery can handle the metal, it needs to ensure it is mined in a responsible manner, including without damaging the environment, mistreating workers or funding corrupt officials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
The company said at the time through a lawyer that they denied mistreating bodies.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2025
The rest of the family has been in an increasingly tense dispute with Hochman over the case, accusing the district attorney of mistreating them in private meetings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025
Melinda and others believed Landy was exploiting and mistreating Wilson, and they feuded with Landy for years before he was barred in 1992 from any contact with Wilson.
From Seattle Times ● May 10, 2024
“We are diligent in our Title IX compliance. We take this very seriously. There’s no room for mistreating people here.”
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
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.
