victimize
Americanverb
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to punish or discriminate against selectively or unfairly
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to make a victim of
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to kill as or in a manner resembling a sacrificial victim
Synonym Usage
See cheat.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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victimizesimple
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victimizessimple
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have victimizedperfect
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has victimizedperfect
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am victimizingprogressive
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are victimizingprogressive
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is victimizingprogressive
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have been victimizingperfect progressive
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has been victimizingperfect progressive
Past
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victimizedsimple
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had victimizedperfect
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was victimizingprogressive
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were victimizingprogressive
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had been victimizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of victimize
Explanation
To victimize is to make someone into a victim by harming or taking advantage of them in some way. A school bully might be known to victimize other kids on the playground. A victim is someone who has had something bad done to them, like the victim of a murder or a burglary. To victimize is to put someone in that position. A serial killer victimizes the people they kill. A swindler victimizes the people they cheat out of money. Abusive parents victimize their children. A football team that cheats victimizes the other team. When you hear about victimizing, you know someone has been hurt.
Vocabulary lists containing victimize
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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:
"This court finds that you chose to victimize people that were peacefully gathering together," Salomone said.
From Barron's ● May 7, 2026
“It’s called gift card draining and these scammers have found several slick ways to victimize unsuspecting shoppers,” Hahn said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2024
He wants to pretend that he's the most perfect man who ever lived and that anyone who says otherwise has some secret agenda to victimize him.
From Salon ● May 6, 2024
Microsoft said it discovered Russian cyberattackers leveraging the company’s conferencing platform to victimize espionage targets, including government accounts.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 3, 2023
Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
But this attitude victimizes the honorable students who don’t cheat and suffer from comparatively lower grades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
“Sending migrants to our cities, whose systems are over capacity, where they may struggle to find shelter and other services is wrong and further victimizes these most vulnerable individuals,” they wrote.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 11, 2023
What does justice look like when a victim who has never known it victimizes another?
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2021
Policymakers have the opportunity to concretely solve a problem that currently victimizes patients and vilifies physicians.
From Slate ● Oct. 18, 2018
"She victimizes poor Harriet, whom she seems to think more on her level," said Miss Carter, not without unction.
From Senator North by Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
Last year, a state appellate court ruled that it was illegal for CPS to subject survivors of domestic violence to surveillance solely because they had been victimized.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
The billionaire says ”I have never victimized anyone” and that it was a mistake to ever meet with Jeffrey Epstein.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
"I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
If we don’t have labor rights, we’re going to be victimized.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
Howard, who had long felt victimized by eastern disdain for western racing, now tried to exploit it.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
“It’s a large volume for just a couple of subjects. Our concern is that this fraud could be replicated by other individuals that are out there victimizing other people in similar schemes.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
Minors are encouraged to save everything — including images, videos and texts — that will help criminal investigators go after the perpetrator and prevent them from victimizing more minors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
Tornadoes in the United States are disproportionately killing more people in mobile or manufactured homes, especially in the South, often victimizing some of the most socially and economically vulnerable residents.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
Carlton Huffman, 39, came forward and shared his side of the story Wednesday in a nearly 11-minute-long video posted on social media, saying he has done so to stop Mr. Schlapp from victimizing others.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 8, 2023
By the time the sleigh drove up to the door she was as bent as ever upon victimizing the "Western giant," as the conspirators had named him.
From From Jest to Earnest by Edward Payson Roe
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.
