stigmatize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to mark out or describe (as something bad)
-
to mark with a stigma or stigmata
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stigmatizesimple
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stigmatizessimple
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have stigmatizedperfect
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has stigmatizedperfect
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am stigmatizingprogressive
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are stigmatizingprogressive
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is stigmatizingprogressive
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have been stigmatizingperfect progressive
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has been stigmatizingperfect progressive
Past
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stigmatizedsimple
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had stigmatizedperfect
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was stigmatizingprogressive
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were stigmatizingprogressive
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had been stigmatizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stigmatize
1575–85; < Medieval Latin stigmatizāre, equivalent to stigmat- ( see stigmatic) + -izāre -ize
Explanation
If you stigmatize someone, you have given that person a label — and it's usually a label that is limiting in some way. In Ancient Greece, a stigma was a brand burned into a slave or a criminal's skin to symbolize disgrace. In the 1500s, the word stigmatize meant literally "to brand or tattoo." Nowadays, to stigmatize is to shame or brand a person in a more symbolic way.
Vocabulary lists containing stigmatize
The Federalist Papers, No. 1 by Alexander Hamilton
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30 GRE Words Beginning with "Q" "R" and "S"
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"The Moustache" and "Who We Really Are"
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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.
Critics of involuntary civil-commitment programs argue they violate civil liberties and stigmatize mental illness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026
Many feared the decision could further stigmatize the shot in a moment when many parents are refusing it simply because the recommendation is under review.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2025
“I can accept myself and the world can still stigmatize me,” McMillan Cottom said.
From Salon • May 10, 2024
Virologists have also come to acknowledge that names can stigmatize people or places.
From Science Magazine • Apr. 3, 2024
We stigmatize the cast-iron fellows, who cannot so detach themselves, as “dragon-ridden,” “thunder-stricken,” and fools of fate, with whatever powers endowed.
From The Voice of Science in Nineteenth-Century Literature Representative Prose and Verse by Various
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.
