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.
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
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victim of abuse
play the victim
the youngest victims of the brutal war
victim of a bad decision by a rushed and overworked judge
› One that is harmed—killed, injured…
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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
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One who is harmed or killed by an accident or illness.
a fundraiser for victims of AIDS; a victim of a car crash
“I don't mean all of your friends—only a small proportion—which, however, connects your circle with that deadly, idle, brainless bunch—the insolent chatterers at the opera,[…]the speed-mad fugitives from the furies of ennui, the neurotic victims of mental cirrhosis, […] !”1907, Robert Chambers, chapter 6, in The Younger Set:
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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
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a victim of sexism; victims of a racist system
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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
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local businesses were the main victims of the economic downturn
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, […]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
As Ella Shohat (1988) incisively argued some years ago now, the historical role of 'victim' to Zionism's racialising and nationalising frame is one that has been shared – albeit not in identical ways – by Palestinians and Mizrahim, those Sephardic or Arab Jews whose presence was solicited for the structural and demographic efficacy of the fledgling Jewish state.2012, Alisa Lebow, The Cinema of Me:
Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.[…]Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:
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A living being which is slain and offered as a sacrifice, usually in a religious rite.
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ChristianityBroadly The transfigured body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.
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.
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Nonstandard, Rare To make (something) a victim (especially of a ritual sacrifice); to victimize.