misuse

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: mis=use
• COUNT in NET: 1 in 1 verses (in OT : 1 in 1 verses)

CIDE DICTIONARY

misuse, v. t. [F. mésuser. See Mis-, prefix from French, and Use.].

•  To treat or use improperly; to use to a bad purpose; to misapply; as, to misuse one's talents.  South.  [1913 Webster]

  "The sweet poison of misused wine."  [1913 Webster]
•  To abuse; to treat ill.  [1913 Webster]

  "O, she misused me past the endurance of a block."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- To maltreat; abuse; misemploy; misapply.

misuse, n. 

•  Wrong use; misapplication; erroneous or improper use.  [1913 Webster]

  "Words little suspected for any such misuse."  [1913 Webster]
•  Violence, or its effects.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

misuse, v. & n.
--v.tr.
1 use wrongly; apply to the wrong purpose.
2 ill-treat.
--n. wrong or improper use or application.

Derivative

misuser n.

THESAURUS

misuse

abuse, active use, adulterate, adulteration, alloy, appliance, application, barbarism, befoul, befouling, bias, bleed, bleed white, canker, catachresis, cheapen, clerical error, coarsen, color, confound, consumption, contaminate, contamination, convert, corrigendum, corrupt, corruption, debase, debauch, defalcate, defile, defilement, deflower, degenerate, degrade, denature, deprave, desecrate, despoil, devalue, distort, diversion, divert, diverting, do amiss, drain, embezzle, employ, employment, envenoming, erratum, error, exercise, exertion, exploit, failure, false coloring, fault, faute, festering, foul, fouling, garble, good use, hard usage, hard use, human error, ill use, ill-treat, ill-use, impose upon, infect, infection, infelicity, make use of, maladminister, malapropism, maltreat, manipulate, milk, misapplication, misapply, misapprehension, misappropriate, misappropriation, miscalculation, miscall, miscarriage, miscite, misconception, misconduct, misconstruction, misconstrue, miscount, misdeal, misdirect, misdirection, misemploy, misemployment, misfield, mishandle, misidentification, misinterpret, misinterpretation, misjudgment, mismanage, misplay, misprint, misquotation, misquote, misread, misrender, misreport, misrepresent, misrepresentation, miss, misspell, misstatement, mistake, mistreat, mistreatment, misunderstanding, misusage, outrage, peculate, perversion, pervert, pilfer, play on, poison, poisoning, pollute, pollution, presume upon, profane, prostitute, prostitution, ravage, ravish, rough usage, slant, slanting, solecism, strain, straining, stroke, suck dry, suppuration, taint, take advantage of, torture, torturing, twist, typo, typographical error, ulcerate, usage, use, use ill, using up, varnish, violate, vitiate, vitiation, vulgarize, warp, work on, work upon, wrong use

ROGET THESAURUS

misuse

Waste

N waste, consumption, expenditure, exhaustion, dispersion, ebb, leakage, loss, wear and tear, waste, prodigality, misuse, wasting, rubbish, mountain in labor, wasted, at a low ebb, wasteful, penny wise and pound foolish, magno conatu magnas nugas, le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, idly busy rolls their world away.

Misuse

N misuse, misusage, misemployment, misapplication, misappropriation, abuse, profanation, prostitution, desecration, waste, misused, ludere cum sacris.

VB misuse, misemploy, misapply, misappropriate, desecrate, abuse, profane, prostitute: waste, overtask, overtax, overwork: squander, cut blocks with a razor, employ a steam engine to crack a nut, catch at a straw.