ill-treat
/'il'tri:t/
Definition
- Verb:
- To treat someone or something cruelly or unkindly: To cause physical or emotional harm through harsh or unfair actions.
- To mistreat or abuse: To handle or behave toward a person, animal, or object with deliberate cruelty or neglect.
Examples of Usage
- Verb:
- The investigation revealed that the owner would ill-treat the animals, leaving them without food.
- It is illegal to ill-treat prisoners of war under international law.
- Children should never be ill-treated by those who are supposed to care for them.
Advanced Usage
- "to ill-treat someone into submission": to use cruel treatment to force someone to obey.
- The tyrannical ruler sought to ill-treat the population into submission.
Variants and Related Words
- Ill-treatment (noun): The act or instance of treating someone badly.
- The ill-treatment of workers led to a strike.
- Maltreat (verb): A close synonym meaning to treat cruelly or violently.
- To maltreat an employee is a serious ethical violation.
Synonyms
- Abuse: To use or treat improperly or cruelly.
- Mistreat: To treat badly or wrongly.
- Oppress: To keep in subservience through harsh, unjust treatment.
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: "Ill-treat" itself is not typically used in phrasal verb constructions. The concept is more commonly expressed with synonyms like "do over" (UK informal) or "beat up on.")
Related Idioms
- To kick someone when they are down: To treat someone badly when they are already in a vulnerable state (similar in spirit to ill-treating).
- Firing her after the bereavement was like kicking her when she was down.
Verb
-
treat badly
-
This boss abuses his workers
-
She is always stepping on others to get ahead
-
Khám phá thêm
Các từ liên quan
Từ gần giống
Từ chứa "ill-treat"
