Meanings
- abbreviationacronymuncountableAcronym of deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender, a behavior of perpetrators of wrongdoing (especially sexual offenders), when accused of attacking their victim, reversing the roles of victim and offender.
Tracy directly replied to Tucker’s statement saying, “This is just more of the same DARVO, deflection, victim blaming and lies that I’ve been dealing with now for months.”
2023 September 12, Jayna Bardahl, “College football’s overrated, underrated teams: Ole Miss, Duke and Alabama”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 15 May 20241 more example
And Nevils tweeted the acronym DARVO and spelled it out: “Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender.” DARVO is a “perpetrator strategy,” according to the professor who coined the term, Jennifer Freyd.
2020 May 20, Brian Stelter, “Matt Lauer responds to rape allegation from Ronan Farrow’s ‘Catch & Kill’”, in CNN Business, archived from the original on 10 Jul 2025
Origin
Acronym of “Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender”. Coined by Jennifer J. Freyd in “Violations of power, adaptive blindness, and betrayal trauma theory” (1997), Feminism & Psychology.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
DARVO. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/DARVO
“DARVO.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/DARVO. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “DARVO,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/DARVO.
Source: DARVO on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.