The disease afflicts an estimated two million people every year.
the South was afflicted by a severe drought
Recent Examples on the WebShare [Findings] A fungal parasite that afflicts the reproductive organs of millipedes was named in honor of Twitter.—Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 28 Feb. 2024 Neuropsychopharmacology — medication treatment for mental illness — has been transformational in the lives of millions of individuals afflicted with major mental disorders.—Anand Kumar, STAT, 27 Feb. 2024 Children are increasingly in need of behavioral health services, childhood vaccines and routine care for conditions such as diabetes and asthma, which commonly afflict low-income Americans.—Noah Weiland Desiree Rios, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2024 The disease afflicting actor Bruce Willis is incurable Feb. 16, 2023
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), also affecting Willis, is a progressive brain disease that impacts the frontal and anterior temporal lobes of the brain.—Alexandra Del Rosario, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2024 The disease is also afflicting people earlier in their lives.—Sally Pipes, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024 And the hosts are making money from the downtime that afflicts most cars.—Carlton Reid, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024 The last pandemic to strike the world with such force was the Spanish flu, which started in 1918, primarily afflicting not the old but the young.—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 19 Feb. 2024 And beyond slower sales of video gaming consoles, there is a mass layoff that’s afflicting the industry.—Lionel Lim, Fortune Asia, 19 Feb. 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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