Meanings
verbmistreat (third-person singular simple present mistreats, present participle mistreating, simple past and past participle mistreated)
present singular third person mistreats · participle present mistreating · participle past mistreated · past mistreated
- transitivemedicineTo administer an incorrect treatment to a patient.
The syphilis that Catapano and other AIDS-syphilis theorists are especially concerned about may develop when repeated treponeme infections are not treated, or, more commonly, are 'mistreated with penicillin.
1989 April 8, John Dooley, “Syphilis and AIDS: What's the Connection?”, in Gay Community News, page 8
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
- Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
- Proto-Germanic*missaz
- Proto-Germanic*missa-
- Proto-West Germanic*missa-
- Old Englishmis-
- Middle Englishmys-
- Englishmis-
- Englishtreat
- Englishmistreat
Translations
Ancient Greek προυσελέω, αἰκίζω
- προυσελέω (prouseléō)to treat someone or something roughly or badly
- αἰκίζω (aikízō)to treat someone or something roughly or badly
Arabic بَهْدَلَ
- بَهْدَلَ (bahdala)to treat someone or something roughly or badly
Bulgarian държа се лошо с
- държа се лошо с (dărža se lošo s)to treat someone or something roughly or badly
Catalan maltractar
- maltractarto treat someone or something roughly or badly
Chinese Mandarin 虐待, 治療不當 /治疗不当
- 虐待 (nüèdài)to treat someone or something roughly or badly
- 治療不當 /治疗不当 (zhìliáo bùdàng)to administer an incorrect treatment to a patient
Danish mishandle
- mishandleto treat someone or something roughly or badly
Dutch mishandelen
- mishandelento treat someone or something roughly or badly
Esperanto mistrakti
- mistraktito treat someone or something roughly or badly
Finnish kohdella kaltoin, hoitaa väärin
- kohdella kaltointo treat someone or something roughly or badly
- hoitaa väärinto administer an incorrect treatment to a patient
French maltraiter
- maltraiterto treat someone or something roughly or badly
German misshandeln, schinden
- misshandelnto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- schindento treat someone or something roughly or badly
Italian maltrattare
- maltrattareto treat someone or something roughly or badly
Latin malo tractare
- malo tractareto treat someone or something roughly or badly
Māori rurerure, tūkino
- rurerureto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- tūkinoto treat someone or something roughly or badly
Polish poniewierać, sponiewierać
- poniewieraćto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- sponiewieraćto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- maltretowaćto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- zmaltretowaćto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- znęcać sięto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- leczyć nieprawidłowoto administer an incorrect treatment to a patient
Portuguese destratar, maltratar
- destratarto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- maltratarto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- judiarto treat someone or something roughly or badly
Romanian maltrata
- maltratato treat someone or something roughly or badly
Russian пло́хо обраща́ться
- пло́хо обраща́ться (plóxo obraščátʹsja)to treat someone or something roughly or badly
Spanish maltratar, lagarear
- maltratarto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- lagarearto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- sopetearto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- sopapearto treat someone or something roughly or badly
- brearto treat someone or something roughly or badly
Vietnamese ngược đãi
- ngược đãito treat someone or something roughly or badly
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with mistreat
completestreetmeetfeetsuitesheetheatdeletesweeteatseattreatconcretereceiptrepeatelitefleetcheatpetecompetewheatincompletedefeatretreat
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
mistreat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mistreat
MLA
“mistreat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mistreat. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mistreat,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mistreat.
Source: mistreat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.