- 1
Prone to treat someone badly by coarse, insulting words or other maltreatment; vituperative; reproachful; scurrilous.
- All they could ever do was to shout abusive inanities at me.
- 2
Tending to deceive; fraudulent.obsolete
- an abusive treaty
- 3
Tending to misuse; practising or containing abuse.archaic
- […] to begin in this vacation the foundation of a trifling subject which might shroud in his leaves the abusive enormities of these our times.
- the abusive prerogatives of his see
- 4
Being physically or emotionally injurious; characterized by repeated violence or other abuse.
- 5
Wrongly used; perverted; misapplied; unjust; illegal.
- I am […]necessitated to use the word Parliament improperly, according to the abusive acceptation thereof.
- 6
Catachrestic.archaic
ant. abuseless · nonabusive · unabusive