afflict

English

Etymology

From Middle English afflicten (attested in past participle afflicte), from Latin afflictāre (“to damage, harass, torment”), frequentative of affligere (“to dash down, overthrow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈflɪkt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkt
• Hyphenation: af‧flict

Verb

afflict (third-person singular simple present afflicts, present participle afflicting, simple past and past participle afflicted)

1. (transitive) To cause (someone) pain, suffering or distress.

   Synonyms: torment, torture; see also Thesaurus:hurt, Thesaurus:vex

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 1:11–12:

     Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 23:27:

     Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 41:

     [T]he wench was afflicted with religion and unapproachably austere.

2. (obsolete) To strike or cast down; to overthrow; to result.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     reassembling our afflicted powers

3. (obsolete) To make low or humble.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     The Argument of mine afflicted stile

   • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC:

     Men are apt to prefer a prosperous error before an afflicted truth.

Derived terms

• afflictee
• afflicter
• afflictingly
• reafflict
• unafflicting

Related terms

• affliction
• afflictive

Translations

to cause pain to

• Bulgarian: измъчвам (bg) (izmǎčvam), причинявам болка (pričinjavam bolka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使痛苦

• Czech: postihnout (cs)
• Dutch: bedroeven (nl), kwellen (nl), treffen (nl), teisteren (nl)
• Esperanto: aflikti, malĝojigi, ĉagreni (eo)
• Finnish: vaivata (fi), koetella (fi)
• German: bekümmern (de)
• Hebrew: הכאיב (hikh'ív), ייסר (yisér), אמלל (he) (imlél)
• Ido: afliktar (io)
• Italian: affliggere (it)
• Latin: afflīgō
• Maori: whakawhiu, makimaki (of an illness), ngau
• Persian: آزردن (fa) (âzordan), دچار کردن (dočâr kardan), دامنگیر کردن (dâman-gir kardan)
• Portuguese: afligir (pt)
• Russian: причиня́ть боль (pričinjátʹ bolʹ), мучать (ru) impf (mučatʹ)
• Spanish: afligir (es), acorar (es) (Caribbean)
• Ukrainian: дошкуляти (uk) impf (doškuljaty), причиняти impf (pryčynjaty) (rare)

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈflɪk(t)/

Verb

afflict (third-person singular simple present afflicts, present participle afflictin, simple past afflictit, past participle afflictit)

1. to afflict

References

• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.