stigmatize
verb /ˈstɪɡmətaɪz/
/ˈstɪɡmətaɪz/
(British English also stigmatise)
[usually passive] (formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they stigmatize | /ˈstɪɡmətaɪz/ /ˈstɪɡmətaɪz/ |
| he / she / it stigmatizes | /ˈstɪɡmətaɪzɪz/ /ˈstɪɡmətaɪzɪz/ |
| past simple stigmatized | /ˈstɪɡmətaɪzd/ /ˈstɪɡmətaɪzd/ |
| past participle stigmatized | /ˈstɪɡmətaɪzd/ /ˈstɪɡmətaɪzd/ |
| -ing form stigmatizing | /ˈstɪɡmətaɪzɪŋ/ /ˈstɪɡmətaɪzɪŋ/ |
- stigmatize somebody/something to treat somebody in a way that makes them feel that they are very bad or unimportantWord Originlate 16th cent. (in the sense ‘mark with a brand’): from French stigmatiser or medieval Latin stigmatizare, from Greek stigmatizein, from stigma ‘a mark made by a pointed instrument, a dot’.