victimization
Americannoun
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the act of making someone into a victim by harming or killing them.
Mentally ill people who wander these streets are particularly vulnerable to victimization by criminal predators.
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the act or fact of blaming others for the hardships one encounters in life.
That school of thought says that victimization is an attitude: you may have no control over what happens to you, but you can control what you do with it.
Etymology
Origin of victimization
First recorded in 1840–50; victimiz(e) ( def. ) + -ation ( def. )
Explanation
Bullying someone or otherwise acting cruelly is victimization. If you deliberately take advantage of your little brother's small size and good nature by eating his cookies as well as your own, that's a kind of victimization. You can use this word for the action of victimizing someone (essentially singling them out and making them your victim) or the process of being victimized. Your victimization at the hands of that horrible substitute gym teacher was truly unfair, especially when he made you do 50 pushups while the rest of the class played volleyball. Victimization is often a very serious matter, since it is a result of an imbalance of power, lack of justice, and cruelty.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The survey, which goes to a representative sampling of U.S. households, found the rate of violent victimization hadn’t fallen.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 14, 2026
This helps the empathizer make sense of things, but it sounds more like victimization and a savior complex than empathy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 21, 2025
Still, the main takeaway is that overall rates of reported crime victimization across America, in both urban and rural areas, have been dropping for decades: They are 58% lower in 2022 than in 1979.
From Salon • Aug. 29, 2025
As a result, we end up feeling like victims of fire, and victimization will be an obstacle to problem-solving.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2025
It's when mercy is least expected that it's most potent—strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution and suffering.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
