見舞(みま)われる

見舞(みま)われる is the passive form of 見舞(みま)う and is by far the more common form in everyday and journalistic Japanese when describing being hit by misfortune. The pattern is essentially fixed: [victim/place]が[misfortune]に見舞(みま)われる.

Grammatical pattern

• ～が～に見舞(みま)われる: [subject] is struck by [misfortune]
• 町(まち)が台風(たいふう)に見舞(みま)われた: "The town was struck by a typhoon."

Common collocations

• 台風(たいふう)に見舞(みま)われる: to be hit by a typhoon
• 地震(じしん)に見舞(みま)われる: to be struck by an earthquake
• 病(やまい)に見舞(みま)われる: to fall ill (literary)
• 不幸(ふこう)に見舞(みま)われる: to be visited by misfortune
• トラブルに見舞(みま)われる: to run into trouble
• 不景気(ふけいき)に見舞(みま)われる: to be hit by an economic downturn
• 寒波(かんぱ)に見舞(みま)われる: to be hit by a cold snap

Similar / related terms

• 遭(あ)う: to encounter, to meet with (a misfortune); more colloquial. 事故(じこ)に遭(あ)う ("to be in an accident")
• 襲(おそ)われる: to be attacked, to be assailed; stronger, often used for both attacks and sudden physical sensations (不安(ふあん)に襲(おそ)われる "to be overcome with anxiety")
• 被(こうむ)る: to suffer (formal/literary; takes the misfortune as direct object: 被害(ひがい)を被(こうむ)る)

Usage

• 見舞(みま)う itself originally meant "to inquire after, to visit (a sick person)," and that older sense survives in お見舞(みま)い ("a sympathy visit / get-well gift"). The modern "to befall" sense was extended from there: misfortune "visits" the victim.
• The active form 見舞(みま)う in the "to befall" sense (e.g., 台風(たいふう)が町(まち)を見舞(みま)った) is heard mainly in literary or news writing; the passive 見舞(みま)われる is far more common in speech.
• Almost always negative in connotation. To say someone was "visited" by a positive event, use 訪(おとず)れる or 恵(めぐ)まれる instead.