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View synonyms for blight

blight

[ blahyt ]

noun

  1. Plant Pathology.
    1. the rapid and extensive discoloration, wilting, and death of plant tissues.
    2. a disease so characterized.
  2. any cause of impairment, destruction, ruin, or frustration:

    Extravagance was the blight of the family.

    Synonyms: bane, scourge, plague, curse

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

    urban blight.



verb (used with object)

  1. to cause to wither or decay; blast:

    Frost blighted the crops.

  2. Illness blighted his hopes.

verb (used without object)

  1. to suffer blight.

blight

/ blaɪt /

noun

  1. any plant disease characterized by withering and shrivelling without rotting See also potato blight
  2. any factor, such as bacterial attack or air pollution, that causes the symptoms of blight in plants
  3. a person or thing that mars or prevents growth, improvement, or prosperity
  4. an ugly urban district
  5. the state or condition of being blighted or spoilt
“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


verb

  1. to cause or suffer a blight
  2. tr to frustrate or disappoint
  3. tr to spoil; destroy
“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

blight

/ blīt /

  1. Any of numerous plant diseases that cause leaves, stems, fruits, and tissues to wither and die. Rust, mildew, and smut are blights.
  2. The bacterium, fungus, or virus that causes such a disease.


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Other Words From

  • blight·ing·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of blight1

First recorded in 1605–15; of uncertain origin
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Word History and Origins

Origin of blight1

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

The department is hopeful the signs will raise awareness among city residents about the challenges of tackling vacancies and blight.

Property values, concentrated poverty, blight and all those kinds of things also map really well.

From Time

Raised in a household with an abusive father, he left home early to live on the streets of New York, surviving as a teen hustler in a city ravaged by some of the worst crime and economic blight in its history.

Instead, Klacik made herself a national sensation with a series of viral videos about urban blight in the Maryland 7th that she parlayed into a primetime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention.

The state holds an annual peach festival, even though it ceased to be the nation’s largest peach producer, due to a blight, more than a century ago.

For the uninitiated, the film is set on a future Earth whose crops (save corn) have been wiped out by a mysterious blight.

Was part of the attraction to the project shining a light in this bizarre blight on America?

She paints the current rodent situation as more than a foul inconvenience, and one that is a particular blight on poorer areas.

In the process, he captured the true spirit of Detroit and its people, all bankruptcy, crime, and urban blight aside.

Increasingly, cities long left to rot are rising from the ashes of blight as they try to become shining examples of new urbanism.

There is still mademoiselle, with her new-formed friends in Paris—may a pestilence blight them all!

The country around Llangollen was beautiful, but the memory of the hotel leaves a blight over all.

Tokyo might fall under the blight of progress, but Kano would hold to the traditions of his race.

Is not one bitter trouble sufficient to blight all of a sudden the most peaceful and happy life?

Out in the vegetable area there were first cutworms and then drought and potato blight to be contended with.

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