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:
Instead, like cowards, they cast around for weaker parties to victimize.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026
“The San Bernardino Police Department will relentlessly pursue those who exploit and victimize others,” the X post said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2026
"Belated fixes cannot undo this harm. We must hold Big Tech accountable for giving abusers the power to victimize women and girls at the click of a button," Ahmed said.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
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
“I’m concerned at the increase of these incidents, and assure the traveling public the FBI and our partners will continue to investigate and prosecute any offender who victimizes someone on a plane,” he said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2024
“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
"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
This time it was Miles Robinson who was victimized, sticking out his right leg but whiffing on an attempt to keep Elmali’s pass from slipping through.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 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
Women are eight times as likely as men to be victimized by an intimate partner, and 85 percent of victims are women.
From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2026
If we were hurt, if we were unhappy or otherwise victimized by life, she seemed to know about it, and to care, as soon as we did.
From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli
After an initial apology tour, Ye changed his tune at the release party for his album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” in November 2014, accusing Swift of victimizing herself for fame.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
The Pierce County district attorney has enhanced the possible punishment for each charge by up to six years because she’s accused of victimizing someone 60 or older.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 8, 2022
Apple unveiled new tools this week it said are designed to prevent “state-sponsored mercenary spyware” from victimizing its customers.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 7, 2022
Clearing encampments is seen as criminalizing or victimizing poverty, and so they’ve often been allowed to stay and grow, out of a sense of compassion.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 9, 2022
He had always disliked the man; now he malignantly resented his very existence; Mahr became the personification of the thing he most wished to forget--the victimizing power of the woman who had enthralled him.
From Out of the Ashes by Ethel Watts Mumford
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.
