These verbs all refer to acts that are unjust or that harm other people. To wrong is to treat unjustly or harmfully without good cause: a man who wronged his wife by mistakenly accusing her of infidelity; an innocent man wronged by being sent to prison. Abuse , the most general term in this group, covers all injurious use or treatment by word or act: abused up hill and down dale for forgetting to book the seats. It does not always connote a deliberate act: an overweight woman whose severe self-imposed diet abused her health; a policeman who abused his authority by searching a house without a warrant.

Maltreat and mistreat are close in meaning, both usually implying base motivation for the actions concerned. Maltreat , however, suggests harsher or more consciously cruel treatment than mistreat , which can apply to acts whose chief effect is psychological rather than physical: accused of maltreating the dogs in his kennel; an author who felt mistreated by his agent on the grounds of neglect and indifference. Mistreat is thus more general than maltreat and need not imply physical abuse or even the desire to harm.

To persecute is to mistreat (or maltreat) because of race, religion or beliefs: People who persecute Aborigines by discrimination in theatres, hotels, etc. Oppress , the strongest word of this group, implies the harsh and unjust use of force in keeping someone in subjugation. Persecute implies a deliberate, systematic and often ruthless attempt to harm; oppress emphasizes action rather than motive, and suggests the weighing down or crushing by the might of irresponsible authority.

• The Puritans, persecuted for their religious beliefs, fled to America; The convicts transported to Australia were often oppressed by their free masters.

To oppress a people is to deprive them of their liberty and often of their hope; to persecute them is to inflict suffering upon them.