as in to plague
to cause persistent suffering to
the South was afflicted by a severe drought he's been afflicted by nightmares ever since the accident
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Recent Examples of afflict
Petek and others have warned about the possibility of a serious recession afflicting the national economy which would exacerbate the budget’s imbalance and strain California’s emergency reserves, which have already been tapped to cover shortfalls.
—
Dan Walters, Mercury News, 20 Dec. 2025
Violence provided a solution but also birthed the recurring dilemma that afflicts African states today.
—Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2025
Even mostly market-rate buildings are afflicted by an air of dutiful efficiency.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 16 Dec. 2025
The images have become the site of a self-conscious meta-comedy about the consuming urge to post that afflicts a portion of the population.
—Paul McAdory, Them., 9 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for afflict
Recent Examples of Synonyms for afflict
Verb
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And then stop the organizational dysfunction, which has plagued the team for years.—
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The program, plagued from the outset by cost overruns and delays, was paused by the ICC at the end of 2023 to conduct an investigation into the best path forward after the surcharge expired.—
Verb
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Open Doors is a global Christian charity supporting Christians persecuted for their faith.—
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Most commonly, people felt they were being persecuted via their electronics – that their Wi-Fi networks, computers or cellphones had been hacked or implanted with tracking devices.—
Cite this Entry
“Afflict.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/afflict. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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