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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

victim.

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

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈvɪktɪm//ˈvɪktəm/
  1. 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

    The victim of the robbery gave a detailed statement.
    crime victim
  2. 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: One who is harmed or killed by a crime or scam.

    victims of assault; the murderer's victims
    became another victim of the latest scam
  3. 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: One who is harmed or killed by an accident or illness.

    a fundraiser for victims of AIDS; a victim of a car crash
  4. 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: One who is harmed or killed as a result of other people's biases, emotions or incompetence, or their own.

  5. 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: One who is harmed or killed as a result of a natural or man-made disaster or impersonal condition.

  6. A living being which is slain and offered as a sacrifice, usually in a religious rite.

  7. A living being which is slain and offered as a sacrifice, usually in a religious rite. The transfigured body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

    broadly
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyk-der. Latin victima Middle French victimebor. English victim 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.

verb/ˈvɪktɪm//ˈvɪktəm/
  1. To make (something) a victim (especially of a ritual sacrifice); to victimize.

    nonstandard · rare · transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *weyk-der. Latin victima Middle French victimebor. English victim 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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.