afflicted

American  

[uh-flik-tid] / əˈflɪk tɪd /

adjective

1. greatly distressed or troubled by bodily or mental pain.

   The severity of these symptoms predicts how well the afflicted individuals can live independently and maintain employment.

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noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

1. Usually the afflicted a person or persons distressed or troubled in such a way.

   Behind each of these killer diseases is the pain of despair, loneliness, and loss in the lives of the bereaved and the afflicted.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of afflict.

Other Word Forms

• afflictedness
  noun
• unafflicted
  adjective
• unafflictedly
  adverb
• unafflictedness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of afflicted

afflict ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Explanation

Afflicted means "impaired" or "stricken" and usually refers to a person who is mentally or physically unfit, or has been grievously affected by disease. This adjective's Latin root, afflictare, means "to damage, harass, or torment," which may sometimes be a good description of how an afflicted person feels. Those with mental illness may be tormented by voices in their head and thus be unable to distinguish what is real from what is not. Those afflicted by ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease, slowly lose control of their muscles and become paralyzed.

Example Sentences

Afflicted female salmon that return to rivers and streams to spawn can pass the deficiency on to their hatchlings, which have problems swimming and experience high mortality rates.

From Science Daily • Jan. 4, 2024

Afflicted vendors included big players such as Apple, which is still owed more than half of the $661,000 invoiced since July, UW officials say.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 13, 2023

Afflicted plants should be dug out and destroyed.

From Washington Post • Sep. 7, 2021

Afflicted by hyperemesis, or acute morning sickness, Schumer braced against unrelenting nausea and a good thousand or so hurls, many of them filmed by her husband, sister or friends.

From The Guardian • Jul. 7, 2020

What is their making of the Afflicted Rise, with a touch of their Hand?

From The Wonders of the Invisible World Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England, to which is added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches by Mather, Cotton

Related Words

• depressed
• stricken