1
as in abused
to put to a bad or improper use
an actor who misused his considerable talent by appearing in too many lousy movies
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in bullied
to inflict physical or emotional harm upon
sadly misused by the people he had trusted
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of misused
Anthropic released Claude Fable 5 to the public earlier this month, with safeguards the company said would reduce the risk of it being misused for cyberattacks or other nefarious purposes.
—
Joe Walsh,
CBS News,
1 July 2026
The Press-Enterprise reported a Riverside County supervisor is seeking an investigation into whether the sheriff misused public resources, including his uniform, official events, county equipment, and the sheriff’s office’s social media channels, during his run for governor.
—
Ben Paviour,
Sacbee.com,
26 June 2026
The administration has argued that the program is being misused and has lost its temporary nature.
—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
25 June 2026
Over 10% of study participants with eating disorders misused the GLP-1.
—
Dr. Samantha Aquino Calpo,
ABC News,
24 June 2026
Peregrine doesn’t use facial recognition, doesn’t create or collect new data, and builds active flagging mechanisms, not passive ones, when data is misused.
—
Lily Mae Lazarus,
Fortune,
22 June 2026
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), aka the UK’s data protection watchdog, has now concluded a two-year investigation into the incident and has found that sensitive personal information was indeed deliberately misused.
—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
22 June 2026
No company is immune to data breaches or leaks, and there is always the risk that sensitive data will be misused by companies or bad actors.
—
Justyn Newman,
PC Magazine,
22 June 2026
The company also said, without much hedging, that some of those same capabilities could be misused once the guardrails came off.
—
Craig S. Smith,
Forbes.com,
19 June 2026
Joe Walsh,
CBS News,
1 July 2026
The Press-Enterprise reported a Riverside County supervisor is seeking an investigation into whether the sheriff misused public resources, including his uniform, official events, county equipment, and the sheriff’s office’s social media channels, during his run for governor.
—
Ben Paviour,
Sacbee.com,
26 June 2026
The administration has argued that the program is being misused and has lost its temporary nature.
—
Maureen Groppe,
USA Today,
25 June 2026
Over 10% of study participants with eating disorders misused the GLP-1.
—
Dr. Samantha Aquino Calpo,
ABC News,
24 June 2026
Peregrine doesn’t use facial recognition, doesn’t create or collect new data, and builds active flagging mechanisms, not passive ones, when data is misused.
—
Lily Mae Lazarus,
Fortune,
22 June 2026
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), aka the UK’s data protection watchdog, has now concluded a two-year investigation into the incident and has found that sensitive personal information was indeed deliberately misused.
—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
22 June 2026
No company is immune to data breaches or leaks, and there is always the risk that sensitive data will be misused by companies or bad actors.
—
Justyn Newman,
PC Magazine,
22 June 2026
The company also said, without much hedging, that some of those same capabilities could be misused once the guardrails came off.
—
Craig S. Smith,
Forbes.com,
19 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misused
abused
Verb
-
Bianca Graham, 30, of Astoria, abused her position at the Blythebourne Post Office in Borough Park to make some extra cash at the expense of 13 victims between August 2024 and August 2025, prosecutors say.
-
Seven years later, Leonard has abused an organization, alienated a fan base and basically collected nearly $300 million of Steve Ballmer’s money and burned it.
Cite this Entry
“Misused.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misused. Accessed 4 Jul. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
