trau·ma·tize traumatizes traumatizing traumatized in BRIT, also use traumatise If someone is traumatized by an event or situation, it shocks or upsets them very much, and may cause them psychological damage. My wife was traumatized by the experience Did his parents traumatize him? Traumatising a child with an abnormal fear of strangers probably won't do much good. young children traumatised by their parents' deaths. + traumatized trau·ma·tized He left her in the middle of the road, shaking and deeply traumatized. to shock someone so badly that they are affected by it for a very long time