mistreat
Americanverb (used with object)
-
mistreats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mistreated,
past participle, past
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mistreating
present participle
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
mistreatsimple
-
mistreatssimple
-
have mistreatedperfect
-
has mistreatedperfect
-
am mistreatingprogressive
-
are mistreatingprogressive
-
is mistreatingprogressive
-
have been mistreatingperfect progressive
-
has been mistreatingperfect progressive
Past
-
mistreatedsimple
-
had mistreatedperfect
-
was mistreatingprogressive
-
were mistreatingprogressive
-
had been mistreatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mistreat
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English mistreten; see mis- 1, treat
Explanation
If you mistreat someone, you harm them in some way. If you don't feed your cat for three days and refuse to clean its litter box, you are definitely mistreating it. People mistreat each other in all sorts of ways, from the emotional (by belittling, ignoring, or mocking them) to the physical (by hitting or otherwise physically harming them). If you see a neighbor mistreat his dog, you might call the police. If a teacher were to mistreat her students, she could lose her job. This verb adds the "bad or wrong" prefix mis- to treat, from its Latin root tractare, "manage or handle."
Vocabulary lists containing mistreat
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Skeptics could still support it for a human-centric reason, because mistreating AI systems could reinforce bad habits that make it more likely for those systems to mistreat humans.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 24, 2026
Zambian union leaders said Chinese managers pay poorly and mistreat workers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2025
“She would roll in her grave if she knew that in her death people would create a situation where people were going to mistreat bears, because she loved bears.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
One attendee had even brought her sign from 2017, a verse from Leviticus in English and in Hebrew: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.”
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2025
He also tried to place his granddaughter under surveillance, for he thought that since she moved in a circle of Communists, at any moment someone might mistreat her because of her relationship with him.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
TWU Local 100 and carriage drivers have long denied that the industry mistreats or abuses its horses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
The stunt was meant to support critics of SeaWorld who assert that the park mistreats its orcas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
After a decade-long battle, a former animal trainer has succeeded in his mission of getting a beloved walrus out of Canada's most popular aquatic zoo, which has faced allegations that it mistreats its animals.
From BBC ● May 17, 2023
In the second passage, an excerpt from Petronius’s Satyricon, the formerly enslaved Trimalchio mistreats his own enslaved people during a lavish dinner party.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
If a mentor mistreats his tributes, he'll be held accountable by the viewers, by the people back in District 12.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
“Even in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor,” Mr. Fukuyama writes, “there were kind Americans trying to help those mistreated by their own government.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
They have called adult protective services repeatedly, claiming that their mom is being mistreated, court documents show, and have tried to monitor her own whereabouts, Ruth said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
The BBC's Disclosure and File on 4 investigation featured contributions from former workers from the Philippines, Ghana and India who alleged they had been mistreated by the company.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
“Paul and I saw the characters as two brothers who have a common father in God, and they both feel that they’re being mistreated in some way,” Sharpe adds.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
And it angered him, the way people mistreated wilderness.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
During the campaign she aired a public feud with Flavio, accusing him of mistreating her.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
Skeptics could still support it for a human-centric reason, because mistreating AI systems could reinforce bad habits that make it more likely for those systems to mistreat humans.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 24, 2026
Before the Rand Refinery can handle the metal, it needs to ensure it is mined in a responsible manner, including without damaging the environment, mistreating workers or funding corrupt officials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
They said his “egregious record of mistreating law enforcement officers, abusing power and disregarding the law itself disqualifies him for this position.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2025
Nazi propaganda had led the German people to believe that the Poles were mistreating ethnic Germans living in Poland.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
