afflict

/əˈflɪkt/

/əˈflɪkt/

Other forms: afflicted; afflicting; afflicts

To afflict is to cause suffering, pain, or misery. It’s often associated with medical conditions. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is most likely to afflict someone who spends many hours every day typing on our computers.

We get afflict from the Latin word affligere, meaning “to strike down,” which is an old fashioned way of saying to get sick, or to have a condition of some kind. You could argue that chronic indecision was the main problem to afflict Hamlet, or that saying "um," "like," and "you know" are speech tics that afflict teens.

Definitions of afflict

1. verb

   cause physical pain or suffering in
   “afflict with the plague”

   synonyms: smite

   types:

   visit

   assail

   blight, plague

   cause to suffer a blight

   type of:

   damage

   inflict damage upon
2. verb

   cause great unhappiness for; distress
   “she was afflicted by the death of her parents”

   types:

   aggrieve, grieve, harrow

   cause to feel distress

   tribulate

   oppress or trouble greatly

   strain, stress, try

   test the limits of

   rack

   stretch to the limits

   type of:

   discomfit, discompose, disconcert, rattle, untune, upset

   cause to lose one's composure