ILL-TREATMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ill-treatment mean? 

• ILL-TREATMENT (noun)
  The noun ILL-TREATMENT has 1 sense:

1. cruel or inhumane treatment

  Familiarity information: ILL-TREATMENT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ILL-TREATMENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cruel or inhumane treatment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

abuse; ill-treatment; ill-usage; maltreatment

Context example:

the child showed signs of physical abuse

Hypernyms ("ill-treatment" is a kind of...):

mistreatment (the practice of treating (someone or something) badly)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ill-treatment"):

child abuse (the physical or emotional or sexual mistreatment of children)

child neglect (failure of caretakers to provide adequate emotional and physical care for a child)

persecution (the act of persecuting (especially on the basis of race or religion))

cruelty; inhuman treatment (a cruel act; a deliberate infliction of pain and suffering)

Derivation:

ill-treat (treat badly)

 Context examples 

I have done all this only to cure you of your silly pride, and to show you the folly of your ill-treatment of me.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I beg you would not put it into Lizzy's head to be vexed by his ill-treatment, for he is such a disagreeable man, that it would be quite a misfortune to be liked by him.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I did indeed observe that the Yahoos were the only animals in this country subject to any diseases; which, however, were much fewer than horses have among us, and contracted, not by any ill-treatment they meet with, but by the nastiness and greediness of that sordid brute.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Their opportunity of acquaintance in the house of Mr. Pratt was a foundation for the rest, at once indisputable and alarming; and Edward's visit near Plymouth, his melancholy state of mind, his dissatisfaction at his own prospects, his uncertain behaviour towards herself, the intimate knowledge of the Miss Steeles as to Norland and their family connections, which had often surprised her, the picture, the letter, the ring, formed altogether such a body of evidence, as overcame every fear of condemning him unfairly, and established as a fact, which no partiality could set aside, his ill-treatment of herself.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)