verb
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
AI-generated errors have afflicted customer service operations at some companies and have caused doctors and lawyers no end of grief, affecting their services to patients and clients.
From Los Angeles Times
Comforting the afflicted, supporting communities and individuals, all that comes later—or not at all.
Yet the performance is mostly one of heartbreaking reserve; her occasional voiceover comes in short, spare declarations from Carol’s diary on the latest dreadfulness to afflict the town.
Some 93% of the world’s children, she said, live in polluted air, and pollution hits home with her own kids, and the asthma that disproportionately afflicts L.A.’s kids.
From Los Angeles Times
Their decision will likely transform the already heated debate over social media addiction as a concept, what role apps may play in engineering it, and whether individuals like Kaley can prove they’re afflicted.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
