What does traumatize mean?
Traumatize means to cause someone to experience severe physical or psychological harm, often leaving them deeply shaken. The word is especially common in medical, psychological, legal, and news contexts, where it describes the lasting effects of violence, accidents, disasters, or other distressing experiences. It is normally transitive: an event or action traumatizes a person, or a person is traumatized by an experience. The passive form is especially frequent, as in "traumatized by war," while the active form emphasizes the causative role of the event. Traumatize conveys more than ordinary upset; it suggests trauma serious enough to have a substantial and potentially enduring effect on someone's well-being. Its connotations are consequently grave and serious. The word belongs to the same family as trauma, traumatic, and traumatology, all of which trace back to a Greek word for a wound. Because it names both the injury and its emotional aftermath, traumatize is useful when discussing experiences that alter a person psychologically as well as physically.
verbTo cause someone to suffer severe physical or psychological harm, especially through a distressing or violent experience.
- To inflict physical or psychological trauma on someone.
- To suffer or be left psychologically traumatized by an experience.
"The crash traumatized the young passengers and left them struggling to return to normal life."
"Years of abuse severely traumatized the survivors."
"Many witnesses were traumatized by what they saw at the scene."
Traumatize descends from a Greek word meaning "wound": its psychological sense extends the idea of physical injury to lasting emotional harm.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does traumatize come from?
Traumatize was formed in the 19th century by combining the Greek-derived word trauma with the suffix -ize. Trauma comes from Greek trauma, meaning "wound," and was also borrowed through Latin. Its cognates include traumatic, traumatology, and traumatism, all of which preserve the original sense of injury or the study and effects of injury.
Related word forms
How traumatize is actually used
The verb is especially common in medical, psychological, legal, and journalistic contexts. Its passive form, "be traumatized by," is particularly frequent. It is more severe and enduring than words such as "upset" or "distress," and usually describes a profound physical or psychological injury.
Easily confused with traumatize
Traumatise is the conventional British English spelling of the same verb, while traumatize is the usual American spelling.