Misused

The word "theory" is often misused.

Though the term is frequently misused by the media, a denial of service attack isn't really hacking or cracking.

The word homeland is so misused that one has trouble saying anything normal or serious about it.

Tom apparently misused his position.

In US media and political discussion, the term "liberal" is purposefully misused or incorrectly said to mean "left-leaning", when "liberalism" is actually defined as a "right-leaning" economic theory.

I think filibusters are misused, and in an ideal world, we shouldn't have to resort to it.

In all, the auditor general said his office uncovered $170 million in funds misused from the national budget.

Lukas misused his superpowers.

The oft misused word didn't mean what he thought it meant, but everyone else misunderstood it too.