What does maltreating mean?
Maltreating means treating a person or animal cruelly, persistently, or unfairly. The word is especially associated with abuse, severe neglect, and conduct that violates a person's or animal's basic rights or welfare. It is stronger and more formal than mistreating, and it is frequently encountered in legal, social-care, journalistic, and campaigning contexts, as in child maltreatment, animal maltreatment, or the maltreatment of prisoners. In sentences, the gerund form often appears after a preposition or conjunction: “She accused him of maltreating the animals,” or “The report describes years of maltreating.” The related noun maltreatment is more common when the abuse is being discussed as a category, condition, or crime. Although maltreating can imply physical cruelty, it may also encompass psychological abuse, sexual exploitation, deliberate deprivation, and harmful neglect. The related forms maltreat, maltreated, and maltreatment cover the corresponding action, past action, and abuse more generally.
verbTo treat a person or animal cruelly, persistently, or unfairly. It denotes abuse or serious neglect rather than ordinary criticism, disagreement, or occasional harshness.
- The act of cruelly, persistently, or unfairly mistreating a person or animal.
"The inquiry found that workers had been maltreating animals at the facility."
"She reported that the tenant had been maltreating his dogs."
"The documentary examined the maltreating of children in residential care."
The prefix mal- means “bad” or “ill,” so maltreat literally means “treat badly.”
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does maltreating come from?
Maltreat was formed in English from the prefix mal-, meaning “bad” or “ill,” and treat, meaning to handle or deal with. Treat ultimately comes through Anglo-French and Latin from tractare, a frequentative form of trahere, “to draw or pull,” and originally referred to handling or managing something.
Related word forms
How maltreating is actually used
This form is most often used as a present participle or gerund, especially in formal, legal, journalistic, and educational contexts. The related noun maltreatment is generally more common when naming the abuse as a phenomenon or offence.
Easily confused with maltreating
Maltreating is generally a stronger and more formal term for sustained cruel or unfair treatment, whereas mistreating can include less serious misconduct.