The disease afflicts an estimated two million people every year.
the South was afflicted by a severe drought
Recent Examples on the WebPerun, who neither drank nor smoked—and who had often spent his rare downtime in our apartment curling heavy dumbbells—was afflicted by a chronic cough that grew distressingly vicious as the operation progressed.—Luke Mogelson, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024 Today, such workers are needed more than ever in states that are afflicted by natural disasters, such as Florida’s hurricanes.—Ramishah Maruf, CNN, 4 Apr. 2024 Given that issues with employee engagement afflict every industry and every firm, combatting disengagement is rapidly becoming one of the most important tasks of corporate leadership.—Alexander Puutio, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 The problem of witnesses dying off or forgetting details also afflicts the government’s case.—Carol Rosenberg, New York Times, 23 Feb. 2024 Shuttlesworth and the Alzheimer’s Association point to a few possible reasons for the disparities in who is afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.—Kamal Morgan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Mar. 2024 The new bond’s proceeds might seem like a drop in the bucket, though, considering that about 47% of today’s homeless people are said to be afflicted with mental or emotional illness, with another 150,000 others in similar difficulty now housed in prisons at a cost of about $130,000 per year.—Thomas Elias, The Mercury News, 22 Mar. 2024 The malady that afflicted the Thoreau family was consumption, striking down three generations.—Alida Becker, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2024 Medium-level exposure may have afflicted workers and artists who used cinnabar to adorn beads, walls, burials and more.—Bridget Alex, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'afflict.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English afflihten "to excite, become distressed," probably verbal derivative of affliht, aflyght "disturbed, upset," borrowed from Latin afflīctus, past participle of afflīgere "to knock or strike down, ruin, distress severely," from ad-ad- + flīgere "to strike down" — more at profligate entry 1
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