ill-used
Definition
- Adjective:
- Treated unfairly or taken advantage of: Describes a person who has been exploited, treated poorly, or not given proper appreciation, especially after having been helpful or kind.
Examples of Usage
- Adjective:
- She felt ill-used after working overtime for months without any recognition or extra pay.
- The volunteers were ill-used by the organization, which expected too much work for no compensation.
Advanced Usage
- "to feel ill-used": to have a sense of being unfairly treated or exploited.
- He felt ill-used when his ideas were taken credit for by his colleague.
- "ill-used by the system": describing a person or group that has been treated unjustly by societal structures or institutions.
- Many citizens feel ill-used by the bureaucratic system.
Variants and Related Words
- Misused (verb/adjective): Used incorrectly or treated badly. While similar, "misused" often refers to objects or concepts, whereas "ill-used" specifically refers to the unfair treatment of people.
- The equipment was misused and broke.
- Exploited (verb/adjective): Used selfishly or unfairly for one's own advantage. This is a stronger, more direct synonym.
- The exploited workers demanded better conditions.
Synonyms
- Taken advantage of: Used for someone else's benefit without proper regard for one's own.
- Imposed upon: Having had one's goodwill or resources unfairly burdened.
- Put upon (informal): Treated unfairly by having too many demands placed on one.
Related Phrases
- To be used and discarded: To be exploited for a purpose and then cast aside without appreciation.
- She felt like she had been used and discarded by the company.
Related Idioms
- To be taken for granted: To not be shown appreciation for something one routinely does. This is a very close concept to feeling ill-used.
- He was tired of being taken for granted by his family.
- To be a doormat: (Informal, idiomatic) To be a person who lets others treat them badly without complaining.
- She realized she had been a doormat and felt completely ill-used.
Adjective
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of persons; taken advantage of
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after going out of his way to help his friend get the job he felt not appreciated but used
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