afflict

American  

[uh-flikt] / əˈflɪkt /

verb (used with object)

1. to distress with mental or bodily pain; trouble greatly or grievously.

   to be afflicted with migraine headaches.

   Synonyms:

   plague , torment , harass , vex

2. Obsolete.

   1. to overthrow; defeat.

   2. to humble.

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afflict British  

/ əˈflɪkt /

verb

1. (tr) to cause suffering or unhappiness to; distress greatly

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Other Word Forms

• afflicter noun
• afflictive adjective
• overafflict verb (used with object)
• preafflict verb (used with object)
• self-afflicting adjective
• unafflicting adjective

Etymology

Origin of afflict

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English afflicten, from Latin afflīctus “distressed,” past participle of afflīgere “to cast down” ( af- af- + flīg- “knock” + -tus past participle suffix); replacing Middle English aflight, from Middle French aflit, from Latin; inflict

Example Sentences

AI adoption isn’t just a problem afflicting one company, but nearly all of them, according to researchers.

From The Wall Street Journal

We see the brothers standing in the center, unharmed; the flames reaching out to afflict everyone around them; and the observers on high looking perplexed.

From The Wall Street Journal

I think if you look at sort of notions of Christian morality, it also goes to notions of sort of innocence, being afflicted by demonic forces.

From Salon

Catholicism is the faith I was baptized in, the one I embraced as a teen and that’s the bedrock for my moral code of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

From Los Angeles Times

It solves what I might call the Brennan problem, which afflicts officials who might otherwise have to spend their natural lives ducking and weaving about what they did in office.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• annoy
• beset
• bother
• burden
• oppress
• plague
• rack
• torment
• torture
• wound