{"id":358209,"date":"2013-01-28T16:34:14","date_gmt":"2013-01-28T21:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/dictionary\/definition\/abuse.html"},"modified":"2013-01-28T16:34:14","modified_gmt":"2013-01-28T21:34:14","slug":"abuse","status":"publish","type":"dictionary","link":"https:\/\/dictionary.findlaw.com\/definition\/abuse.html","title":{"rendered":"Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

term:<\/p>\n

<\/h1>\n\n
\n

vt<\/p><\/dt>\n

abused<\/b>
abus·ing<\/b>
1<\/b> :<\/b> to put to a use other than the one intended: as
a<\/b> :<\/b> to put to a bad or unfair use [abusing<\/i> the powers of office]
b<\/b> :<\/b> to put to improper or excessive use [ narcotics]
2 a<\/b> :<\/b> to inflict physical or emotional mistreatment or injury on (as one’s child) purposely or through negligence or neglect and often on a regular basis
b<\/b> :<\/b> to engage in sexual activity with (a child under an age specified by statute)
3<\/b> :<\/b> to attack harshly with words [ a police officer] [ a debtor]
abus·er n<\/i>
<\/b><\/i>
[ə-byüs] n 1<\/b> :<\/b> improper, unfair, or excessive use [ of authority] [drug ]
2 a<\/b> :<\/b> the infliction of physical or emotional injury
;also<\/i>
:<\/b> the crime of inflicting such injury see also battered child syndrome<\/a>, battered woman’s syndrome<\/a> compare cruelty<\/a>, neglect<\/a>
b<\/b> :<\/b> sexual abuse <\/a>
3<\/b> :<\/b> a verbal attack (as on a police officer in the performance of his or her duty)
;also<\/i>
:<\/b> the crime of making such an attack <\/p>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Source: Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law \u00a91996. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Published under license with Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is ‘Abuse’? Learn more about legal terms and the law at FindLaw.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":358119,"menu_order":0,"template":"app\/Http\/Controllers\/Templates\/DictionaryArticleController.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","_autodraft_ids":[],"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"_sb_is_suggestion_mode":false,"_sb_show_suggestion_boards":false,"_sb_show_comment_boards":false,"_sb_suggestion_history":"","_sb_update_block_changes":"","_is_real_time_mode":false,"_realtime_collaborators":"","cf_checklist_status":[]},"dictionary_tags":[],"class_list":["post-358209","dictionary","type-dictionary","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dictionary.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dictionary\/358209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dictionary.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dictionary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dictionary.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/dictionary"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dictionary.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dictionary\/358119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dictionary.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"dictionary_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dictionary.findlaw.com\/law-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dictionary_tags?post=358209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}