abusive

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈbjuː.sɪv/ (UK); /əˈbju.sɪv/, /əˈbju.zɪv/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French abusif (Anglo-French abusif (“misplaced, wrong”)),^[2][3] from Late Latin abūsīvus (“misapplied, improper”),^[2][3] from abūsus, the past participle of abūtor (“to misuse, use up”) (see abuse).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Improper, misapplied: the 1530s, implied in abusively, in Etymonline;^[2] the OED's first quotation, 1583, is for wrongly used, and in rhetoric catachrestic.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Full of abuses, corrupt, is from the 1580s.^[2][4] Deceitful or cheating is from 1602,^[4] and using insulting or coarse language from 1621.^[4] Shakespeare has abusious (1594), and abuseful was used from the 17th to the 19th century.^[2] Physically harming another person, as in an abusive relationship, is in modern dictionaries.^[5][6]

Timeline

• 1530s – improper.^[2]
• 1583 – misapplied.^[4]
• 1589 – corrupt.^[4]
• 1621 – insulting.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Using insulting or coarse language: abusive remarks.
2. Treating someone cruelly or violently; causing physical or emotional harm.
3. (archaic) Wrongly used; corrupt.

Word family

• abusively
• abusiveness

Related words

• abuse
• use
• utility

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins