different between fatality vs victim

English

Etymology

From French fatalité. equivalent to fatal +? -ity.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fe??tæl?ti/, [fe???t?æl??i]
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??tæl?t?/, /f??tæl?t?/
• Rhymes: -æl?ti

Noun

fatality (plural fatalities)

1. The state proceeding from destiny; invincible necessity, superior to, and independent of, free and rational control. [from 17th c.]
2. Tendency to death, destruction or danger, as if by decree of fate. [from 17th c.]
3. That which is decreed by fate or which is fatal; a fatal event. [from 18th c.]
   • 1851, Wilkie Collins, The Twin Sisters

     What can I say, or think of this most terrible of fatalities?

4. Death.
5. An accident that causes death. [from 19th c.]
6. A person killed.
7. (video games) A move where one character kills another.

Synonyms

• (state proceeding from destiny): inevitability
• (tendency to death, destruction or danger): mortality

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle French victime, from Latin victima (“sacrificial animal”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?v?kt?m/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /?v?kt?m/
• Hyphenation: vic?tim

Noun

victim (plural victims)

1. One that is harmed—killed, injured, subjected to oppression, deceived, or otherwise adversely affected—by someone or something, especially another person or event, force, or condition; in particular:

   the youngest victims of the brutal war

   victim of a bad decision by a rushed and overworked judge

   • 2014, Holger H. Herwig, The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918, A&C Black (?ISBN), page 116:

     Flexibility, one of the hallmarks of German military doctrine, was a victim of the war.

   1. 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
   2. One who is harmed or killed by an accident or illness.

      a fundraiser for victims of AIDS; a victim of a car crash
   3. 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

      a victim of sexism; victims of a racist system

   4. 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

      local businesses were the main victims of the economic downturn

      • 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:

        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, […]
2. A living being which is slain and offered as a sacrifice, usually in a religious rite.
   1. (by extension, Christianity) The transfigured body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

Usage notes

Many people advise against describing a disabled person as being a victim of the condition that relates to their status as a disabled person and suggest describing a disabled person as having or experiencing that condition instead.

Synonyms

• injured party

Antonyms

• offender

Related terms

• victimize, victimise
• victimization, victimisation
• victimism
• victimist

Translations

References

• victim at OneLook Dictionary Search
• victim in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• victim in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.