Library / English Dictionary

MISUSE

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Improper or excessive use

Example:

the abuse of public funds

Synonyms:

abuse; misuse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("misuse" is a kind of...):

employment; exercise; usage; use; utilisation; utilization (the act of using)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "misuse"):

drug abuse; habit; substance abuse (excessive use of drugs)

Derivation:

misuse (change the inherent purpose or function of something)

misuse (apply to a wrong thing or person; apply badly or incorrectly)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Change the inherent purpose or function of something

Example:

The director of the factory misused the funds intended for the health care of his workers

Synonyms:

abuse; misuse; pervert

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "misuse" is one way to...):

expend; use (use up, consume fully)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "misuse"):

fracture (violate or abuse)

take in vain (use a name, such as God, without proper respect)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

misuse (improper or excessive use)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Apply to a wrong thing or person; apply badly or incorrectly

Example:

You are misapplying the name of this religious group

Synonyms:

misapply; misuse

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "misuse" is one way to...):

apply; employ; use; utilise; utilize (put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

misuse (improper or excessive use)

Credits

 Context examples: 

When misused or abused, opioid pain relievers can be addictive and dangerous.

(Designing more effective opioids, NIH)

Anne was considering whether she should venture to suggest that a gown, or a cap, would not be liable to any such misuse, when a knock at the door suspended everything.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Taken together, the researchers conclude that the findings provide support across three different species for a relationship between alcohol misuse, AUD, and specific changes in the aldosterone/MR pathway marked by increased circulating aldosterone and decreased mineralocorticoid receptor gene expression in the amygdala.

(NIH findings link aldosterone with alcohol use disorder, National Institutes of Health)

Two inferences, however, were plainly deduced from the whole: one, that Elizabeth was the real cause of the mischief; and the other that she herself had been barbarously misused by them all; and on these two points she principally dwelt during the rest of the day.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

So it was, when the doom of fifty years of living death was uttered by Judge Scott, that Jim Hall, hating all things in the society that misused him, rose up and raged in the court-room until dragged down by half a dozen of his blue- coated enemies.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

An office within the National Institutes of Health that monitors scientific progress in basic and clinical research involving recombinant DNA and human gene transfer, advises federal departments and agencies on ways to minimize the possibility that knowledge and technologies emanating from vitally important biological research will be misused to threaten public health or national security, provides policy advice to the Department of Health and Human Services on the broad array of complex medical, ethical, legal, and social issues raised by the development and use of genetic technologies and Xenotransplantation.

(Office of Biotechnology Activities, NCI Thesaurus)

“I know it,” she cried, “I am a most wicked woman. But it is bad enough that one should misuse you. Ma foi! I will see that there is not a second one.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These pain relievers are generally safe when taken for a short time and as prescribed by a doctor, but are frequently misused because they also produce euphoria.

(Designing more effective opioids, NIH)