sexual abuse

American  

[sek-shoo-uhl uh-byoos] / ˈsɛk ʃu əl əˈbyus /

noun

1. nonconsensual touching of a person for one’s own sexual gratification or for the sexual gratification of someone else, especially when the nonconsenting party is a child.

   When children experience sexual abuse, it is rarely a stranger perpetrating the crime, but more commonly an authority figure or other adult they know.

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sexual abuse Cultural  

1. Unwanted sexual activity forced on a person by another through coercion or threats.

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Etymology

Origin of sexual abuse

First recorded in 1875–80 in the sense “masturbation”

Example Sentences

It was a post-#MeToo law, the Adult Survivors Act, that allowed the journalist and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll to bring her civil sexual abuse case against Trump.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026

Baroness Anne Longfield, a former children's commissioner, will chair the inquiry into child sexual abuse by grooming gangs, which Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has promised will be a "moment of reckoning".

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

Romero said the organization is reaching out to groups with expertise in helping victims of sexual abuse.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026

Federal law requires all U.S. technology companies to report detected child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026

It didn't appear that emotional trauma or abuse was bedizened as sexual abuse in a display to get others to empathize with her tattered past.

From Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)

Related Words

• exploitation
• impropriety
• intimidation
• victimization