VICTIMIZE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does victimize mean? 

• VICTIMIZE (verb)
  The verb VICTIMIZE has 3 senses:

1. make a victim of

2. punish unjustly

3. deprive of by deceit

  Familiarity information: VICTIMIZE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VICTIMIZE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they victimize    ... he / she / it victimizes   
Past simple: victimized   
Past participle: victimized   
-ing form: victimizing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a victim of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

victimise; victimize

Context example:

I was victimized by this con-man

Hypernyms (to "victimize" is one way to...):

wrong (treat unjustly; do wrong to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "victimize"):

cheat; chisel; rip off (deprive somebody of something by deceit)

cozen; deceive; delude; lead on (be false to; be dishonest with)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

victim (an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance)

victim (a person who is tricked or swindled)

victimization (adversity resulting from being made a victim)

victimizer (a person who victimizes others)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Punish unjustly

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

victimise; victimize

Hypernyms (to "victimize" is one way to...):

penalise; penalize; punish (impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

victim (an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance)

victim (a person who is tricked or swindled)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Deprive of by deceit

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

bunco; con; defraud; diddle; goldbrick; hornswoggle; mulct; nobble; rook; scam; short-change; swindle; victimize

Context example:

She defrauded the customers who trusted her

Hypernyms (to "victimize" is one way to...):

cheat; chisel; rip off (deprive somebody of something by deceit)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "victimize"):

short; short-change (cheat someone by not returning him enough money)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

victimization (an act that exploits or victimizes someone (treats them unfairly))