as in plagues
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 afflicts
Furthermore, regulatory sclerosis afflicts housing and infrastructure.
—
Veronique De Rugy, Oc Register, 25 Dec. 2025
Violence provided a solution but also birthed the recurring dilemma that afflicts African states today.
—Foreign Affairs, 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
Illness and job losses left Allen Gray vulnerable to a problem that afflicts thousands of Cincinnati seniors.
—Dan Horn, Cincinnati Enquirer, 9 Nov. 2025
Recent research finds a similar curse afflicts National Football League teams that compete to acquire one of the top picks in its annual draft of new players.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 21 Oct. 2025
Motion sickness afflicts one in three adults and one in two children.
—Eric D. Lawrence, USA Today, 9 Oct. 2025
Although there have been recent breakthroughs in the treatment of Alzheimer’s, no medication has succeeded in stopping or reversing the disease that afflicts more than 7 million Americans, a number projected to reach almost 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
—The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Aug. 2025
And the same problem afflicts electronic cigarettes, which have been blowing up in people’s faces sporadically.
—Weiyang Li, IEEE Spectrum, 23 Aug. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for afflicts
Verb
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So while so much of this matchup is strength versus strength, what might matter most is which team’s weakness plagues them the least.—
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Cinnamon has been widely touted as a cure-all for anything that plagues the garden.—
Verb
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In Russia, the civilian repressive apparatus persecutes the military, which leaps at every chance for revenge.—
Cite this Entry
“Afflicts.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/afflicts. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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