traumatize

[trou-muh-tahyz, traw-]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR traumatize ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), trau·ma·tized, trau·ma·tiz·ing.

Pathology. to injure (tissues) by force or by thermal, chemical, etc., agents.

Psychiatry. to cause a trauma in (the mind): to be traumatized by a childhood experience.

Also especially British, trau·ma·tise.

Origin of traumatize

First recorded in 1900–05, traumatize is from the Greek word traumatízein to wound. See traumatic, -ize

Related formstrau·ma·ti·za·tion, nounun·trau·ma·tized, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for traumatize

disturb, grieve, shock, upset, hurt, offend, mortify, outrage, pain, distress, get, bother, sting, trouble

Examples from the Web for traumatize

Contemporary Examples of traumatize

The cable network had “lost its mind,” and was going to “traumatize channel surfers.”
Natural Childbirth Is Not a Cult
Brandy Zadrozny
June 27, 2014
The “Crime of the Century” certainly did traumatize Lindbergh.
Charles Lindbergh’s Secret German Mistresses in Truth and Fiction
Joshua Kendall
April 30, 2013
It is also Palestinians who lob the rockets from Gaza that traumatize southern Israel.
Why Liberal Zionists Won't Join BDS
Peter Beinart
February 12, 2013
Christmas has always been neck and neck with Halloween for the title of Best Time to Traumatize Your Kids.
Twelve Unusual Christmas Reads
Stefan Beck
December 25, 2011

British Dictionary definitions for traumatize

traumatize

traumatise

verb

(tr) to wound or injure (the body)

to subject or be subjected to mental trauma

Derived Formstraumatization or traumatisation, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for traumatize

1903, of physical wounds; 1949 in the psychological sense, from Greek traumat-, stem of trauma (see trauma).