traumatize
Americanverb (used with object)
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traumatizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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traumatized,
past participle, past
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traumatizing
present participle
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Pathology. to injure (tissues) by force or by thermal, chemical, etc., agents.
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Psychiatry. to cause a trauma in (the mind).
to be traumatized by a childhood experience.
verb
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(tr) to wound or injure (the body)
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to subject or be subjected to mental trauma
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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traumatizesimple
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traumatizessimple
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have traumatizedperfect
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has traumatizedperfect
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am traumatizingprogressive
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are traumatizingprogressive
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is traumatizingprogressive
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have been traumatizingperfect progressive
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has been traumatizingperfect progressive
Past
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traumatizedsimple
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had traumatizedperfect
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was traumatizingprogressive
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were traumatizingprogressive
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had been traumatizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of traumatize
First recorded in 1900–05, traumatize is from the Greek word traumatízein to wound. See traumatic, -ize
Explanation
To traumatize someone is to make them feel a severe, lasting sense of shock and hurt. Being in a bad car accident can traumatize anyone. In medicine, to traumatize is to hurt or injure physically, but this verb is used more often in everyday speech to mean "harm psychologically or emotionally." War and violence traumatize many people around the world, and even something as seemingly harmless as a scary movie can traumatize a young child. Traumatize comes from trauma, "physical wound" in medical Latin and "a wound, hurt, or defeat" in Greek.
Vocabulary lists containing traumatize
"Mammoth Shakes and Monster Waves" Vocabulary from the informational text
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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.
See Examples For:
Johnston carries the film and the emotional core, but Navarrette delivers the kind of instantly classic horror turn that will surely traumatize Gen Z for years.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
In this way, “The Sheep Detectives” recalls an earlier era of children’s movies that weren’t afraid to lightly traumatize their young audiences.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
“This country has done nothing but traumatize me in the last six months. Maybe I’ll just move to Spain.”
From Slate ● Dec. 11, 2025
The movie's footage was so unsettling that parents' groups claimed the film would traumatize children and even scare them away from Christmas.
From Salon ● Oct. 14, 2023
She was packing up her things slowly so as to not traumatize Ma.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
“It still traumatizes me at read-throughs. I’m like, oh my God, oh my God, please don’t mess up a word. It was a good training ground.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2025
Advocates for people experiencing homelessness have expressed dismay and alarm with the mayor’s position, which they say often criminalizes the city’s most vulnerable residents and can further traumatizes many of them, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
Writing from her own experience, O'Neil digs into the ways in which shame conditions and traumatizes those whose bodies don't adhere to beauty industry norms.
From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2022
When patients tell her they’re using an at-home file, “I cringe, because what that does is it actually traumatizes the skin, and then your body gets drier and it adds more calluses,” she said.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 19, 2022
“Use of such restraint traumatizes a person in emotional distress and exacerbates the condition and experience of the crisis for the individual,” she said in an email.
From New York Times ● May 13, 2016
But that is the way much of Jordan’s narration reads, a mixture of traumatized testimony, tortured confession and furious screed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
“He said, ‘I’m a traumatized human being who hasn’t moved on and I want some resolution,’” Krook recalls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Men here, some of whom have served decades, are deeply traumatized.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
“The baby boom generation is still traumatized by the bubble,” says Jesper Koll, global ambassador for booster group FinCity.Tokyo.
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Years ago, the theft of the bus traumatized her.
From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau
Fireworks are also traumatizing for pets, particularly dogs, which tremble and even bolt from their homes in fear.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
How would adolescents get through their fictional puberty if no one was traumatizing them?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
Divorce is a traumatizing event, and your friend has moved on in a productive and forward-looking manner.
From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026
Michôd occasionally comes close to suggesting a strange power play is going on here, where James is bullying Christy to fight harder during matches by traumatizing her himself.
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025
All of these questions ran through my mind at the thought of the story and of all the traumatizing things that women faced.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
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.
