Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a person who suffers from a destructive or injurious action or agency: a victim of an automobile accident.
- a person who is deceived or cheated, as by his or her own emotions or ignorance, by the dishonesty of others, or by some impersonal agency: a victim of misplaced confidence; the victim of a swindler; a victim of an optical illusion.
- a person or animal sacrificed or regarded as sacrificed: war victims.
- a living creature sacrificed in religious rites.
noun
- a person or thing that suffers harm, death, etc, from another or from some adverse act, circumstance, etcvictims of tyranny
- a person who is tricked or swindled; dupe
- a living person or animal sacrificed in a religious rite
late 15c., “living creature killed and offered as a sacrifice to a deity or supernatural power,” from Latin victima “person or animal killed as a sacrifice.” Perhaps distantly connected to Old English wig “idol,” Gothic weihs “holy,” German weihen “consecrate” (cf. Weihnachten “Christmas”) on notion of “a consecrated animal.” Sense of “person who is hurt, tortured, or killed by another” is first recorded 1650s; meaning “person oppressed by some power or situation” is from 1718. Weaker sense of “person taken advantage of” is recorded from 1781.