maltreat
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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maltreatsimple
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maltreatssimple
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have maltreatedperfect
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has maltreatedperfect
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am maltreatingprogressive
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are maltreatingprogressive
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is maltreatingprogressive
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have been maltreatingperfect progressive
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has been maltreatingperfect progressive
Past
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maltreatedsimple
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had maltreatedperfect
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was maltreatingprogressive
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were maltreatingprogressive
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had been maltreatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of maltreat
First recorded in 1700–10; earlier maltrait, from French maltraiter; see mal-, treat
Explanation
If you maltreat someone, you treat them very badly. It's best not to maltreat your little sister — she may grow up to be bigger, stronger, and smarter than you. Also, it's just not very nice. If you're cruel to someone on purpose, you maltreat them. You can also say abuse or mistreat. If a big company maltreats its workers, they may rebel by going on strike or joining a lawsuit. This verb combines the prefix mal-, "badly, poorly, or wrong," and the word treat, from the Latin root tractare, "manage or handle."
Vocabulary lists containing maltreat
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:
Bosses and colleagues who maltreat subordinates with ridicule or lack of consideration are as common as the companies who protect them.
From Salon ● Jan. 22, 2022
“How can you maltreat such a beautiful woman?” he was said to have asked the errant husband.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 14, 2019
The peoples of Europe can maltreat, but happily not judge, one another.
From Time Magazine Archive
There the President became a member of the Arctic Brotherhood and took an oath never to maltreat horse or dog.
From Time Magazine Archive
It might have been wise to deprive a too ambitious bishop of his castle, but it was not wise personally to maltreat the clergy.
From A Student's History of England, v. 1 (of 3) From the earliest times to the Death of King Edward VII by Gardiner, Samuel Rawson
To a newcomer like Davenant, the experience is a trial that maltreats his body and corrodes his spirit.
From Time Magazine Archive
If one boy maltreats another, within school-bounds, or within school-hours, that is a matter for me to settle.
From The Story of a Bad Boy by Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
"And who on that account maltreats you," interrupted Wanda, laughing.
From Venus in Furs by Savage, Fernanda
He is indeed," Oswald affirmed, "he is a particular friend of mine--if any one among the people about here maltreats him, he always applies to me.
From 'Gloria Victis!' A Romance by Schubin, Ossip
She imperiously bids man sustain and reproduce himself, and this is one of the places where in the very act of obedience he wounds and maltreats her.
From Anna of the Five Towns by Bennett, Arnold
They have described using such tools as a moral imperative, insisting that child welfare officials should draw from all data at their disposal to make sure children aren’t maltreated.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 14, 2023
The film’s smartest insights come from observing how maltreated children bear their secrets.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2021
Juvenile courts like the one handling Mary’s case recognize that providing safety, stability, and pathways to higher education and employment for youth who have been maltreated is crucial to their long-term well-being.
From Slate ● Jun. 30, 2021
No matter what, indigenous women have to deal with the fact that our stories occasionally will be maltreated even after we reach assemblages of success.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2018
Suspension is a disreputable attitude for the human body, whatever way it is brought about, yet I doubt this maltreated anonymity was in better case than our hero.
From The Passionate Elopement by MacKenzie, Compton
“If people continue maltreating the sacred lake like this, it will expand again and drown all the villages and towns around it.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
"Why are you harassing him and why are you maltreating not only him, but his family and an entire nation that is free and proud."
From Fox News ● Jan. 15, 2022
"The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone," Huxley wrote in the novel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2016
McDermott, who was not implicated in the SOS scandal, was charged with four department violations, including bringing discredit on the department and disrespecting or maltreating a person on or off duty.
From Chicago Tribune ● Oct. 17, 2014
A young man who has been locked up in prison for a week for maltreating a policeman can hardly expect to be entrusted with such concerns as those of Travers and Treason.
From Ayala's Angel by Trollope, Anthony
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.
