To victimize someone is to single them out and treat them badly on purpose — not by accident, and not to everyone equally, but to this person, because of who they are or what they have done. The reason is usually their race, their religion, their politics, their union, or the fact that they complained about something. The heart of the word is being picked out. If a boss is rude to the whole office, that is bad temper. If the boss is rude only to the one person who reported him, that person is being victimized. English speakers feel the unfairness in the word strongly: it says the treatment is undeserved, and that the person on the receiving end has less power than the person doing it. It is very common in the passive, and that is how learners will most often meet it: "she felt she was being victimized", "staff who speak up are victimized". The passive fits because the person hurt is the one telling the story. There is a second, looser use, mostly American and mostly in crime reporting: "the gang victimized elderly residents" simply means it made them its victims — robbed them, targeted them. Here there is no idea of prejudice, only of being preyed on. It is formal. In ordinary talk you would say "they pick on him", "they're out to get her", "they treat him unfairly". Also spelled victimise in British writing; the same word.

（因身分、信仰或申訴而）刻意刁難、針對、欺負某人；被動用得最多：be victimized 被針對、被找麻煩。注意重點是「被挑出來單獨對待」，不一定到「迫害」那麼嚴重