ill-treating
Causing deliberate harm
Ill-treating is treating someone or something cruelly or harshly.
The term appears most often in legal and formal contexts describing abuse or neglect: He was charged with ill-treating the animals in his care.
The noun form is ill-treatment.
Savage, merciless behavior
- inhumanityExtreme cruelty toward others
- sadismPleasure from inflicting pain
- viciousnessExtreme cruelty or spite
- callousnessCruel emotional indifference
heartlessness · mercilessness · pitilessness · malice · savagery · barbarity · cold-bloodedness · ruthlessness
Causing painful embarrassment
- demeaningCausing loss of respect
- degradingLowering in worth
- belittlingExpressing contempt or dismissiveness
- denigratingCriticizing to damage reputation
dehumanizing · disparaging · insulting · berating · castigating · lambasting · chastising · rebuking
Treating with cruelty
- abusingHarming through misuse
- harmingCausing injury or damage
- hurtingFeeling pain or distress
- tormentingCausing severe distress
persecuting · victimizing · bullying · intimidating · manhandling · mishandling · assaulting · battering
Leaving permanently behind
- ignoringDeliberately not noticing
- disregardingDeliberately not considering
- forsakingRenouncing or abandoning completely
- desertingAbandoning one's obligations
starving · depriving · withholding · denying · isolating · confining · imprisoning · caging
Forcing into submission
- dominatingExercising supreme control
- tyrannizingRuling with cruel authority
- persecutingHarassing cruelly, often systematically
- exploitingUsing selfishly for benefit
suppressing · repressing · enslaving · coercing · controlling · marginalizing · discriminating · disenfranchising
brutality
Savage, merciless behavior
- inhumanityExtreme cruelty toward others
- sadismPleasure from inflicting pain
- viciousnessExtreme cruelty or spite
callousness · heartlessness · mercilessness · pitilessness · malice · savagery · barbarity · cold-bloodedness · ruthlessness · meanness
humiliating
Causing painful embarrassment
- demeaningCausing loss of respect
- degradingLowering in worth
- belittlingExpressing contempt or dismissiveness
denigrating · dehumanizing · disparaging · insulting · berating · castigating · lambasting · chastising · rebuking · shaming
maltreating
Treating with cruelty
tormenting · persecuting · victimizing · bullying · intimidating · manhandling · mishandling · assaulting · battering · brutalizing
abandoning
Leaving permanently behind
- ignoringDeliberately not noticing
- disregardingDeliberately not considering
- forsakingRenouncing or abandoning completely
deserting · starving · depriving · withholding · denying · isolating · confining · imprisoning · caging · restraining
subjugating
Forcing into submission
- dominatingExercising supreme control
- tyrannizingRuling with cruel authority
- persecutingHarassing cruelly, often systematically
exploiting · suppressing · repressing · enslaving · coercing · controlling · marginalizing · discriminating · disenfranchising · silencing
ill-treatingnurturing
Supportive care-giving
caring for · cherishing · looking after · protecting · caring
treat, treating, treated, treats, treatment, treatments, treatable, untreatable, mistreat