afflict

afflict: afflict, try, torment, torture, rack mean to inflict upon a person something which he finds hard to bear. Something or someone that causes pain, disability, suffering, acute annoyance, irritation, or embarrassment may be said to afflict a person

{
afflicted with heart disease
}

{
blindness afflicts many aged persons
}

{
she is afflicted with shyness
}

{
he who afflicts me knows what I can bear— Wordsworth
}

An affliction or a person or thing that imposes a strain upon one’s physical or spiritual powers of endurance or tests one’s stamina or self-control may be said to try a person, his body, his soul, or his character

{
a trying situ- ation
}

{
his trying temper
}

{
the great heat of the sun and the heat of hard labor. . . try the body and weaken the digestion— Jefferies
}

An affliction or a person or thing that persecutes and causes continued or repeated acute suffering or annoyance may be said to torment one

{
recurrent stomach pains torment him
}

{
other epochs had been tormented by the misery of existence and the terror of the unknown— Glicksberg
}

{
the horses are tormented by flies
}

{
the older boys . . . bullied and tormented and corrupted the younger boys— H. G. Wells
}

An affliction or a person or thing that severely torments one physically or mentally and causes pain or suffering under which one writhes may be said to torture one

{
torture prisoners of war
}

{
an idea of what a pulsating sciatica can do in the way of torturing its victim— Bennett
}

{
the unseen grief that swells with silence in the tortured soul— Shak.
}

A person or, especially, a thing (often a painful emotion or disease) that pulls or seems to pull one this way and that beyond endurance and in a manner suggestive of the excruciating straining and wrenching of the body on the rack, an ancient instrument of torture, may be said to rack a person

{
racked with pain
}

{
he is racked by doubts of his friend’s loyalty
}

{
vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair— Milton
}

{
how on earth can you rack and harry . . . a man for his losings, when you are fond of his wife, and live in the same station with him?— Kipling
}

Analogous words: *worry, annoy, harass, harry, plague, pester: vex, bother, irk (see ANNOY): distress, *trouble, ail

Antonyms: comfort

Contrasted words: console, solace (see COMFORT): delight, gladden, rejoice, *please

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Synonyms:

Grieve, distress, trouble, try, torment, agonize, plague, pain, hurt, harass, wound, exercise, grind, persecute, smite, make sorrowful

Look at other dictionaries:

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.… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Afflict — Af*flict , p. p. & a. [L. afflictus, p. p.] Afflicted. [Obs.] Becon. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
afflict — I verb agonize, anguish, assault, bruise, burden, chasten, discommode, discompose, disquiet, distress, grate, harm, hurt, impair, infect, inflict, irritate, mistreat, pain, plague, punish, rasp, sicken, smite, strike, victimize II index affront,… … Law dictionary
afflict — (v.) late 14c., to cast down, from O.Fr. aflicter, from L. afflictare to damage, harass, torment, frequentative of affligere (pp. afflictus) to dash down, overthrow, from ad to (see AD (Cf. ad )) + fligere (pp. flictus) to strike, from PIE … Etymology dictionary
afflict — [v] cause or become hurt agonize, annoy, beset, bother, burden, crucify, distress, grieve, harass, harrow, harry, irk, lacerate, martyr, oppress, pain, pester, plague, press, rack, smite, strike, torment, torture, trouble, try, vex, worry, wound; … New thesaurus
afflict — ► VERB ▪ cause pain or suffering to. DERIVATIVES affliction noun. ORIGIN Latin afflictare knock about, harass , or affligere knock down, weaken … English terms dictionary
afflict — [ə flikt′] vt. [< L afflictare, to injure, vex < afflictus, pp. of affligere, to strike down < ad , to + fligere: see INFLICT] 1. to cause pain or suffering to; distress very much 2. Obs. to overthrow … English World dictionary
afflict — transitive verb Etymology: Middle English, from Latin afflictus, past participle of affligere to cast down, from ad + fligere to strike more at profligate Date: 14th century 1. obsolete a. humble b. overthrow … New Collegiate Dictionary
afflict — [14] When it originally entered English, afflict meant ‘overthrow’, reflecting its origins in Latin afflīgere ‘throw down’, a compound verb formed from the prefix ad ‘to’ and flīgere ‘strike’. English afflict comes either from the Latin past… … The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins
afflict — inflict, afflict Both words are concerned with the suffering of unpleasant circumstances, but they have different constructions. Inflict has the unpleasantness as object, and afflict has the victim: • He knew also that the greater part of the… … Modern English usage

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afflict

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