blight

[ blahyt ]

/ blaɪt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR blight ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Plant Pathology.

the rapid and extensive discoloration, wilting, and death of plant tissues.
a disease so characterized.

any cause of impairment, destruction, ruin, or frustration: Extravagance was the blight of the family.

the state or result of being blighted or deteriorated; dilapidation; decay: urban blight.

verb (used with object)

to cause to wither or decay; blast: Frost blighted the crops.

to destroy; ruin; frustrate: Illness blighted his hopes.

verb (used without object)

to suffer blight.

Nearby words

Origin of blight

First recorded in 1605–15; of uncertain origin

SYNONYMS FOR blight

2. curse, plague, scourge, bane.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR blight ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsblight·ing·ly, adverbun·blight·ed, adjectiveun·blight·ed·ly, adverbun·blight·ed·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for blight

Increasingly, cities long left to rot are rising from the ashes of blight as they try to become shining examples of new urbanism.
A Tech Millionaire Bets on the Urban Revival of Downtown Las Vegas|Sarah Kunst|January 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Others announced layoffs and cutbacks and every manner of cancer and blight.
Books Aren't Dying|Patrick DeWitt|February 27, 2009|DAILY BEAST
We went on—the Blight thrilled, for she had heard much of our volunteer force at the Gap and had seen something already.
A Knight of the Cumberland|John Fox Jr.
I can be to you nothing but a blight or burden, nothing but a source of privation and anguish.
The Disowned, Complete|Edward Bulwer-Lytton

A blight of the same kind can be traced to the attempt of the state to play the paternal rôle.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, January 1899|Various
Blight appears on apple trees in three forms, as blossom blight, as twig blight, and as blight cankers.
Apple Growing|M. C. Burritt
Also, now that she had gone, the extent to which Miss Hobson had acted as a blight was universally recognized.
The Adventures of Sally|P. G. Wodehouse

British Dictionary definitions for blight

blight

/ (blaɪt) /

noun

any plant disease characterized by withering and shrivelling without rottingSee also potato blight

any factor, such as bacterial attack or air pollution, that causes the symptoms of blight in plants

a person or thing that mars or prevents growth, improvement, or prosperity

an ugly urban district

the state or condition of being blighted or spoilt

verb

to cause or suffer a blight

(tr) to frustrate or disappoint

(tr) to spoil; destroy

Word Origin for blight

C17: perhaps related to Old English blǣce rash; compare bleach

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for blight

blight

1610s, origin obscure; according to OED it emerged into literary speech from the talk of gardeners and farmers, perhaps ultimately from Old English blæce, blæcðu, a scrofulous skin condition and/or from Old Norse blikna "become pale." Used in a general way of agricultural diseases, sometimes with suggestion of "invisible baleful influence;" hence figurative sense of "anything which withers hopes or prospects or checks prosperity" (1828). Cf. slang blighter. Urban blight attested by 1935.