Victimised

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To be in a state of having suffered from wrongdoing or unfair treatment by others
2. To find oneself in a situation where one has become a target for mistreatment or exploitation
3. Experiencing injustice or cruelty inflicted by others

Etymology: "Victimised" is the past tense and past participle of "victimise," which is simply "victim" with the verbal suffix "-ise" added. The noun traces back through Middle French "victime" to Latin "victima," meaning a sacrificial animal offered to a god, and that original sense of a creature killed in ritual still lies behind the modern meaning of someone harmed or wronged. The suffix has a longer path. It descends from Ancient Greek "-izein," which turned nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat in a certain way," and passed through Late Latin "-izare" and Old French "-iser" before reaching Middle English. English then applied it freely to native and borrowed bases, which is how "victimise" came to mean not only to sacrifice someone but to make them a target of unfair treatment.

Synonyms: oppressed, mistreated

Antonyms: protected, defended