as in to abuse
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon
anyone who ill-treats their pets should not be allowed to have any
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ill-treat
Declarants describe detentions following their civil immigration arrests that deprived them of basic human dignity, including being ill-treated, with inadequate food and uncomfortable and crowded sleeping facilities, and being denied medical attention.
—
New York Times, 2 Dec. 2025
But that shouldn’t, in my mind, make an excuse for ill-treating a patient.
—Jessica Schreifels, ProPublica, 26 Sep. 2025
There is a troubling suggestion of abuse, implying that Jack might have been ill-treated by his mom (and saved by Helen), rather than heartlessly abandoned.
—Tomris Laffly, Variety, 14 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ill-treat
Verb
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The pair also pretended that Tammy was allegedly abusing them.—
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In handing down the sentence, Montenegro said Bonillo understood the scope of his misdeeds, abused his position of trust and used that position to enrich himself while undermining CBP’s main goal.—
Verb
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The Legal Accountability Project claims circuit court executives failed to intervene when Merriam continued to mistreat staff after the first complaint.—
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In its statement following his death, PETA accused Easley of mistreating the tigers under his care.—
Verb
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Social media can’t replace offline resources for children who are being maltreated.—
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One to One concert the duo organized as a response to Geraldo Rivera’s truly shocking exposé of the Willowbrook institution, where children with disabilities were horrifically maltreated and abused.—
Verb
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For the second game running, Omari Hutchinson was too easily bullied off the ball in a dangerous area.—
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Though the basics are similar, the improvements and extras combine to bully its predecessor into storage, and the Roadie 4 now has pride of place in the accessories cubby of my guitar's travel case.—
Verb
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Still, whatever validity there is to his pain, Peter becomes a high priest of hallucination and Coon’s tortured Agnes his disciple.—
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In Chechnya, a region in southern Russia with a predominantly Muslim population, authorities launched an open hunt for gay men—police rounded them up and tortured many of them, with some being killed.—
Cite this Entry
“Ill-treat.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ill-treat. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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