VICTIM Synonyms: 68 Similar and Opposite Words

victim

noun

ˈvik-təm

Definition of victim

as in fatality

a person or thing harmed, lost, or destroyed helped the victims of the fire

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in target

a person or thing that is the object of abuse, criticism, or ridicule the victim of schoolyard teasing

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in sacrifice

something offered to a god the Aztecs are believed to have sacrificed thousands of victims annually to the sun

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of victim The victim’s female roommate told police she had been attacked by the same person who shot the man and was able to identify him to law enforcement, according to the release. — Sally Krutzig, Idaho Statesman, 21 Sep. 2026 The victim was treated by medics at the scene and released, Public Safety said. — Mike Darnay, CBS News, 21 Sep. 2026 The bodies of six of the victims were found in the space of 10 days this month. — Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2026 Pérez was particularly upset that the police had come to arrest the two men in a white van with tinted windows—a symbol of the dictatorship, which used such vehicles to disappear its victims—and that the government had not stopped this. — Will Freeman, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for victim

Recent Examples of Synonyms for victim

Noun

The proper accounting of military fatalities has implications beyond public transparency.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 19 Sep. 2026
The classification covers incidents involving aircraft destruction, fatalities, or qualifying damage exceeding $2 million.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 17 Sep. 2026

Definition of fatality

Noun

The investment bank upgraded CoreWeave to overweight from neutral on Thursday, and raised its 12-month price target by 4%, to $125 from $120.

— Liz Napolitano, CNBC, 24 Sep. 2026
Tucker Kraft has been a nice security blanket for the Packers, catching five of nine targets for 80 yards.

— OutKick, FOXNews.com, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of target

Noun

The killing is halfway between femicide and, as the earth drinks up her blood, ritual sacrifice.

— Max Norman, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026
Allen's trial attorneys wanted to put an expert witness on the stand to testify the killings appeared to be a ritual sacrifice by people who worshipped Odin, the king of the gods in Norse mythology.

— ABC News, ABC News, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of sacrifice

Noun

The officials said Afghan Taliban forces subsequently abandoned several positions and suffered casualties.

— ABC News, ABC News, 23 Sep. 2026
Amid soaring casualties on the front lines, mounting economic hardship and rising public anxiety, the reality of what Russia calls its Special Military Operation in Ukraine is increasingly being felt.

— Matthew Chance, CNN Money, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of casualty

Noun

Threats facing the species include habitat loss, declining prey populations and human-wildlife conflict.

— CBS News, CBS News, 21 Sep. 2026
Over Labor Day weekend, Springfield Public Schools, a district in western Massachusetts that serves twenty-three thousand students across some sixty schools, fell prey to a cyberattack that shuttered classes for four days.

— Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 17 Sep. 2026