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Definition of "ill-treat" [ill-treat]

  • To treat unkindly or harshly. See Synonyms at abuse. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "ill-treat" in a sentence
  • "He knew the power in his muscles, and he knew the tricks and turns by which men use their bodies to ill-treat men."
  • "They published and spread distorted stories from the beginning, tarnishing the image of Sri Lankan Sinhalese community saying they ill-treat Tamil people, which is a big fat lie."
  • "At the end of the legal argument preceding Ahmed's trial, the judge rejected a bid by his lawyers to have the trial scrapped over Britain's alleged role in his mistreatment, stating in an "open" version of his judgment: "I am not satisfied that the British authorities assisted or encouraged the Pakistanis to unlawfully detain and/or ill-treat Rangzieb Ahmed in such a way as to amount to an abuse of the process of the court.""