victim

== English == === Etymology === From Middle French victime, from Latin victima (“sacrificial animal”). Although this root and victor drive from homophonous PIE roots, they are traditionally reconstructed as separate words and thus not cognates. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈvɪktɪm/ (weak vowel merger) IPA(key): /ˈvɪktəm/ (weak vowel merger) Rhymes: -ɪktəm Hyphenation: vic‧tim === Noun === victim (plural victims) One that is harmed—killed, injured, subjected to oppression, deceit, or otherwise adversely affected—by someone or something, especially another person or event, force, or condition; in particular: Synonym: injured party Antonyms: offender, perpetrator One who is harmed or killed by a crime or scam. Antonyms: culprit, criminal, assailant, aggressor, offender One who is harmed or killed by an accident or illness. One who is harmed or killed as a result of other people's biases, emotions or incompetence, or their own. a victim of his own pride; a victim of her own incompetence the newcomer never managed to make friends, a victim of the town's deep distrust of outsiders a victim of sexism; victims of a racist system One who is harmed or killed as a result of a natural or man-made disaster or impersonal condition. relief efforts to help victims of the hurricane victim of an optical illusion; victim of a string of bad luck local businesses were the main victims of the economic downturn 1970 March 12, United States House Committee on Education and Labor, Summary of Legislative Action of the House Education and Labor Committee for the 91st Congress (1st Session) / Educational Technology Act of 1969: Hearing, Ninety-first Congress, Second Session on H.R. 8838 ... March 12, 1970: To some extent the schools and colleges are victims of conditions beyond their control: rapid population growth and mobility, country; to-city migration, unpredictable economic and social changes wrought by technology, […] A living being which is slain and offered as a sacrifice, usually in a religious rite. (by extension, Christianity) The transfigured body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. ==== Usage notes ==== Many people advise against describing a disabled person as being a victim of the condition that relates to their status as a disabled person and suggest describing a disabled person as having or experiencing that condition instead. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Verb === victim (third-person singular simple present victims, present participle victiming, simple past and past participle victimed) (transitive, rare, now nonstandard) To make (something) a victim (especially of a ritual sacrifice); to victimize. ==== Derived terms ==== === References === === Further reading === “victim”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. victim in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “victim”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “victim, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.