Victimized

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Experienced harm or unfair treatment inflicted by others
2. Subjected to unjust or cruel actions causing harm or disadvantage
3. Been made a target of mistreatment or wrongdoing by someone else

Etymology: "Victimized" is the past tense of "victimize," and the verb is simple to trace: it combines "victim" with the suffix "-ize," which turns a noun into a verb meaning to make into or treat as something. The noun "victim" came into English from Middle French "victime," which in turn came from Latin "victima," a sacrificial animal offered to a god. The sense of a living creature killed in a ritual gradually broadened into a person harmed or made to suffer. The suffix has a longer ancestry. It passed through Late Latin "-izare" and Middle French "-iser" before reaching Middle English as "-isen," and it was later spelled "-ize" in English. Its Greek source, "-izein," shows up in many older verbs, which is why the ending feels so at home in words like "baptize" and "civilize."

Synonyms: oppressed, mistreated, abused, wronged, persecuted

Antonyms: empowered, protected, supported