You searched for: “victims
victim (s) (noun), victims (pl)
1. An unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse circumstance.
2. Someone who is hurt, or killed, by another person or something; especially, in a crime, accident, or disaster; such as, a murder victim.
3. Someone who is adversely affected by an action, or circumstance, whether by a human or as a result of some natural cause.
4. Anyone who is tricked or exploited.
5. A live human, or animal, used as a sacrifice or in a religious rite.
6. Etymology: "a living creature killed and offered as a sacrifice to a deity or supernatural power"; borrowed from Middle French victime, and directly from Latin victima, "person" or "animal killed as a sacrifice", or "any sacrifice".

It might be distantly connected to Old English wig, "idol" with the notion of "a consecrated animal".

The meaning of "a person who is hurt, tortured, or killed by someone" is first recorded in 1660; while the meaning of "a person oppressed by some power or situation" is from 1718. The weaker sense of "a person taken advantage of" is recorded from 1781.

This entry is located in the following unit: victim- (page 1)
Word Entries containing the term: “victims
crime victim (s) (noun), crime victims (pl)
Anyone who has been tricked, swindled, robbed, or harmed by another person: "A crime victim is someone who is identified as being a person who has suffered as a result of a perpetrator; such as, a robber, a counterfeiter, a physical attacker, etc."
This entry is located in the following units: crim-, crimino- (page 1) victim- (page 1)