abuse
English doing what only English can.
It's cruel to abuse abuse victims.
The sentence highlights the irony of harming those who have already endured harm.
Meanings
to use wrongly or improperly; to mistreat
- Officials must not abuse their authority.
- Drivers who abuse speed limits face heavy fines.
the wrong or improper use of something; mistreatment
- Reports of abuse must be investigated promptly.
- Substance abuse affects millions of families.
Word origin
From Old French abuser ('to misuse'), from Latin abūsus, past participle of abūtī ('to use up, misuse'), formed from ab- ('away from, wrongly') + ūtī ('to use'). The verb-noun pronunciation distinction (/z/ vs /s/) is a regular feature of English known as voicing alternation, which also appears in 'use', 'house', 'advise/advice', and 'excuse'.
Fun fact
The /z/-to-/s/ shift between verb and noun is one of English's oldest fossil distinctions, going back to Old English where verbs retained voicing on suffixes that were later lost — leaving the modern voicing as the only surviving trace.