afflict
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
afflict
v 1: cause great unhappiness for; distress; "she was afflicted
by the death of her parents"
2: cause physical pain or suffering in; "afflict with the
plague" [syn: {afflict}, {smite}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Afflict \Af*flict"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Afflicted}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Afflicting}.] [L. afflictus, p. p. of affigere to
cast down, deject; ad + fligere to strike: cf. OF. aflit,
afflict, p. p. Cf. {Flagellate}.]
1. To strike or cast down; to overthrow. [Obs.] "Reassembling
our afflicted powers." --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. To inflict some great injury or hurt upon, causing
continued pain or mental distress; to trouble grievously;
to torment.
[1913 Webster]
They did set over them taskmasters to afflict them
with their burdens. --Exod. i. 11.
[1913 Webster]
That which was the worst now least afflicts me.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
3. To make low or humble. [Obs.] --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
Men are apt to prefer a prosperous error before an
afflicted truth. --Jer. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
Syn: To trouble; grieve; pain; distress; harass; torment;
wound; hurt.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
146 Moby Thesaurus words for "afflict":
abuse, affect, aggrieve, agitate, agonize, ail, anguish, annoy,
befoul, bewitch, bite, blight, bother, break down, bring to tears,
burden, burn, chafe, condemn, convulse, corrupt, crucify, crush,
curse, cut, cut up, damage, debilitate, defile, deprave, derange,
desolate, despoil, destroy, devitalize, disable, disadvantage,
discomfort, disorder, disquiet, disserve, distress, disturb,
do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, doom,
draw tears, embitter, enervate, enfeeble, envenom, excruciate,
fester, fret, gall, get into trouble, give pain, gnaw, grate,
grieve, grind, gripe, harass, harm, harrow, harry, hex,
hospitalize, hurt, impair, incapacitate, indispose, infect,
inflame, inflict pain, injure, inundate, invalid, irk, irritate,
jinx, kill by inches, lacerate, lay up, load with care, maltreat,
martyr, martyrize, menace, mistreat, molest, nip, oppress, outrage,
overwhelm, pain, persecute, perturb, pester, pierce, pinch, plague,
play havoc with, play hob with, poison, pollute, prejudice, press,
prick, prolong the agony, prostrate, put to it, put to torture,
rack, rankle, rasp, reduce, rub, savage, scathe, sicken, smite,
sorrow, stab, sting, strike, taint, threaten, torment, torture,
trouble, try, tweak, twist, upset, vex, violate, weaken, worry,
wound, wreak havoc on, wring, wrong
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