Misuse

How to spell misuse

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce misuse

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does misuse mean?

1. nounThe wrong or improper use of something.
2. verbTo use something wrongly or for an improper purpose.

Misuse in a sentence

• noun

  The misuse of public funds prompted a full inquiry.

• verb

  Employees who misuse their access privileges face dismissal.

• noun

  Any misuse of the equipment will void the warranty.

• verb

  Patients can misuse the medication by taking more than the dose prescribed.

Where does misuse come from?

Language of origin: French

This word joins the native English prefix mis-, meaning 'wrongly' or 'badly', to the noun and verb 'use'. The 'use' element came into English in the 1200s from Old French user, which in turn descended from the Latin verb usare and ultimately from uti, meaning 'to employ' or 'to make use of'. The prefix mis- is far older and thoroughly Germanic, surviving in the same negative sense in words such as 'mistake' and 'misjudge'. By the late fourteenth century English speakers had welded the two together to mean handling something in the wrong way or putting it to an improper purpose. A useful spelling detail to remember is that the noun ends in an /s/ sound while the verb shifts to a /z/ sound, yet both are written with the same single 's'.

How the word is built

• mis- (wrongly, badly)
• use (from Latin usus, the act of employing)