affliction
Americannoun
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afflictions
plural
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a state of pain, distress, or grief; misery.
They sympathized with us in our affliction.
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a cause of mental or bodily pain, as sickness, loss, calamity, or persecution.
- Synonyms:
- disaster, catastrophe, calamity, tribulation, trouble, mishap
noun
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a condition of great distress, pain, or suffering
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something responsible for physical or mental suffering, such as a disease, grief, etc
Usage
What is affliction? Affliction refers to a negative state that could include pain, suffering, or grief, as in The servants watched over the manor while the duke was in a state of affliction following his son’s death. Affliction can also refer to something that causes mental or bodily pain, such as disease or misfortune, as in The captain was bedridden due to a mysterious affliction that the doctor couldn’t identify. Affliction is used similarly to words like adversity, misfortune, and trial, which also describe things that cause suffering or pain. Unlike these words, though, affliction is often used to describe something specifically forced on a person that causes serious emotional effects in addition to other suffering. Example: The man lost his hearing during the accident but has since learned to live with his affliction.
Synonym Usage
Affliction, adversity, misfortune, trial refer to an event or circumstance that is hard to bear. A misfortune is any adverse or unfavorable occurrence: He had the misfortune to break his leg. Affliction suggests not only a serious misfortune but the emotional effect of this: Blindness is an affliction. Adversity suggests a calamity or distress: Job remained patient despite all his adversities. Trial emphasizes the testing of one's character in undergoing misfortunes, trouble, etc.: His son's conduct was a great trial to him.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of affliction
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English affliccioun, from Latin afflīctiōn-, stem of afflīctiō; equivalent to afflict + -ion
Explanation
An affliction makes you suffer, but you have to deal with it anyway. Diseases are often said to be afflictions, but the word can mean just about anything that causes great suffering. The word afflict, which makes up the first part of the word, means to cause this type of trouble. "Tom liked to inflict pain on his brother. His brother considered Tom just one more affliction he had to bear." The word can also be used as an exaggeration of something that isn't so bad––"Homework is often seen as an affliction by students and parents alike."
Vocabulary lists containing affliction
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 1–7
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"Beowulf," Vocabulary from the epic poem
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Further, they can be hard for primary care doctors, who might not be familiar with every tick-borne affliction, to catch.
From Slate ● Aug. 6, 2026
Hannah Arendt controversially argued that pity is an “all-devouring passion” that only feeds on affliction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
But lately, it is drawing attention for those drugs’ success at clearing a more familiar affliction: acne.
From Barron's ● Feb. 3, 2026
For Belichick, they say, it's part love of the game, part love for coaching, and part an affliction that has ailed many great sports figures: an inability to know when to say goodbye.
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026
The most mystifying symptom of this affliction was that one ogre would choose to serve another ogre—or animal—that it loved.
From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth
If Resurrection Church is famed in Catholic and activist circles across Southern California, it’s because parishioners over the decades have had to deal with afflictions on the level of Job.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
The backlog of afflictions in the waiting room include severe sunburn…
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
Meanwhile, physical afflictions can be ameliorated via automated systems that adjust indoor conditions in response to signs of animal distress.
From Salon ● May 15, 2024
“We call upon our congregations to stand strong with those facing such afflictions by this year foregoing any unnecessarily festive activities,” they wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 16, 2023
Clamp it to his heart and wait for the goddess to thrust her fiery hand through its planes and burn away his afflictions.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
