misuse
Americannoun
-
misuses
plural
-
wrong or improper use; misapplication.
- Synonyms:
- misappropriation, misemployment
-
Obsolete. bad or abusive treatment.
verb (used with object)
-
misuses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
misused,
past participle, past
-
misusing
present participle
-
to use wrongly or improperly; misapply.
-
to treat badly or abusively; maltreat.
noun
-
erroneous, improper, or unorthodox use
misuse of words
-
cruel or inhumane treatment
verb
-
to use wrongly
-
to treat badly or harshly
-
to use (something, esp alcohol, drugs, etc) improperly
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misusesimple
-
misusessimple
-
have misusedperfect
-
has misusedperfect
-
am misusingprogressive
-
are misusingprogressive
-
is misusingprogressive
-
have been misusingperfect progressive
-
has been misusingperfect progressive
Past
-
misusedsimple
-
had misusedperfect
-
was misusingprogressive
-
were misusingprogressive
-
had been misusingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of misuse
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at mis- 1, use
Explanation
Misuse is using something incorrectly or in a harmful way. I warned you that repeated misuse of your cellphone would break it — I can't believe you were texting in the shower! You can use this word as a noun or a verb, with just a slight change in pronunciation. As a noun, misuse rhymes moose. But when you misuse the money your parents gave you for groceries, spending it all on candy and comic books, misuse rhymes with confuse. A less-common meaning of the verb is "treat someone badly."
Vocabulary lists containing misuse
mis-
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mis-
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: mis-
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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:
Langley told a TED audience in April that the misuse of the company’s technology was “a trade-off I can make” compared to the number of investigations he said it assists with.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
These companies should be required to verify their customers’ identities and intentions and to deny access where there is reason to suspect dangerous misuse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The rules standardise interactions between humans and machines to "prevent risks of misuse or abuse", the ministry said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 4, 2026
From the get-go, Beutner said he was concerned that some school systems would misuse the new arts money — leaving students no better off than before in terms of arts education.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
"Ares 4 hasn't even launched yet. Why misuse an MDV? Why not make something better?"
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Under current law, queries are reported annually to Congress so misuses of the program are identified.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
Yet one doesn’t need an AI bot to explain why Grammarly’s stunt has to rank among the sleaziest misuses of AI technology yet to appear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
"It misuses the gravity and impact of terrorism to expand it beyond those clear boundaries, to encompass further conduct that is already criminal under the law," he added.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2025
Recently, she’s chronicled on X the expulsion of New York Republican George Santos, who was booted from the House following a searing ethics report detailing misuses of campaign funds.
From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2024
H. At all levels of government also, a concerted effort must be made to clean up junk, spoil, and debris inherited from misuses of the past and to prevent new accumulations.
From The Nation's River A report on the Potomac from the U.S. Department of the Interior by United States. Dept. of the Interior.
There’s a lot of therapy language being misused — people seem to think that if they speak in a soft, measured tone, they can’t possibly be toxic.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
Nevertheless, he does not deny that Flock has been misused by members of law enforcement.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
A group of seven states also challenged the TotalEnergies agreement in court, arguing that the deal misused government funds and failed to follow proper administrative procedures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
As words such as trauma, boundaries and narcissism have entered the mainstream, they are more misused and diluted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
Her first thought when she sees that card coming toward her is that she has somehow misused the nice-and-beautiful power-not-power she has.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
And recent reporting by the Washington Post uncovered at least 50 instances nationwide in which law enforcement officials were accused of misusing their access to the cameras, largely to stalk former romantic partners or citizens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The judge ordered Guo to forfeit $889 million following his July 2024 felony conviction for misusing followers’ funds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Some city leaders had also dinged the county for misusing homelessness money generated from a previous sales tax and argued this new pot of dollars would be handled no better.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Davies agreed the onus should be on social media platforms to tighten up safety measures and added adults were also guilty of misusing social media.
From BBC ● May 25, 2026
Everything a lie, everything a way of misusing him.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
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.
