How to Use mistreat in a Sentence

mistreat

verb
  • She claimed she had been mistreated by the police.
  • They accuse him of mistreating his wife.
  • Don’t exploit or mistreat the refugee, the orphan, and the widow.
    Corinne Sullivan, Woman's Day, 4 Aug. 2022
  • When somebody mistreats you, go out of your way to be kind.
    Perri Ormont Blumberg, Southern Living, 4 Sep. 2019
  • At the time, the owner of the ship denied having mistreated the crew in any way.
    Los Angeles Times, 7 Nov. 2023
  • The first involved one of the girls telling him they were being mistreated.
    Madison Park, CNN, 12 Apr. 2018
  • The rich can kick up a fuss when they are mistreated by police.
    The Economist, 8 Mar. 2018
  • She was mistreated and abused in every way shape and form there was.
    Emilee Coblentz, USA TODAY, 7 May 2024
  • Oliver was sentenced for one of the counts -- for mistreating her 12-year-old.
    oregonlive.com, 26 June 2019
  • Hilton and others at the protest vowed to push forward until all schools that mistreat youth are shut down.
    Brady McCombs and Lindsay Whitehurst, Star Tribune, 9 Oct. 2020
  • If forgotten or mistreated, the dead turn against the people who are meant to take care of them.
    Carlo Gabuco, National Geographic, 9 Apr. 2019
  • The lawsuit is the latest to accuse the county of mistreating inmates at the jail.
    Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com, 10 July 2019
  • If someone is mistreating you in ANY way, please speak up.
    Lilian Min, Cosmopolitan, 6 July 2017
  • When a foreigner resides among you in a land, do not mistreat them.
    Jon Kelvey, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, 13 July 2019
  • This may lead us to think: why do people let themselves be mistreated in this way?
    Mark Travers, Forbes, 4 Sep. 2024
  • The move came after some over the years criticized him for mistreating his artists.
    Jonathan Landrum Jr., Fortune, 15 Sep. 2023
  • When asked about the #MeToo movement, Vanessa said she's been mistreated and has learned how to stand up for herself.
    Brittney McNamara, Teen Vogue, 3 Jan. 2020
  • When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.
    Alexia Fernandez, PEOPLE.com, 6 Sep. 2017
  • The stunt was meant to support critics of SeaWorld who assert that the park mistreats its orcas.
    Jonah Valdez, Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2023
  • The Supreme Court doesn’t want to see people mistreated like this in their final moments.
    Jessica Gresko, The Seattle Times, 30 Mar. 2019
  • The paper said he had been accused of mistreating women for more than two decades.
    New York Times, 13 Apr. 2018
  • Yet, when the statement was typed, the pronoun was changed to suggest that Bamber felt he’d been mistreated.
    Heidi Blake, The New Yorker, 29 July 2024
  • One of the Hart children tells DeKalb that she is being mistreated by her parents.
    Eric Levenson, CNN, 5 Apr. 2018
  • Is there a saying about those who are confused about history and doomed to mistreat it?
    wsj.com, 11 May 2023
  • There were other children living in the house, but there were no signs they had been mistreated, Corbin said.
    Fox News, 16 Nov. 2019
  • She was mistreated, held back from going to school, and forced to work for the family who was hosting her.
    Caterina Clerici & Eléonore Hamelin, Marie Claire, 1 Feb. 2019
  • His mother, Cheri, has often said he has been mistreated in the media.
    Shannon Ryan, chicagotribune.com, 8 Feb. 2018
  • While you’re at it, keep an eye on their remaining dog to make sure he’s not being mistreated too.
    Mallory Ortberg, Slate Magazine, 8 June 2017
  • Some of the elders still remember the days when most Shia were mired in rural poverty, mistreated not just by Lebanon’s other sects but by their own semifeudal overlords.
    Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 31 Oct. 2024
  • Attendees have filed a series of lawsuits over the past decade, alleging that they were mistreated and hurt by security workers.
    Libor Jany, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mistreat.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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