blight
Americannoun
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Plant Pathology.
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the rapid and extensive discoloration, wilting, and death of plant tissues.
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a disease so characterized.
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any cause of impairment, destruction, ruin, or frustration.
Extravagance was the blight of the family.
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the state or result of being blighted or deteriorated; dilapidation; decay.
urban blight.
verb (used with object)
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blights,
present (3rd person singular)
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blighted,
past participle, past
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blighting
present participle
verb (used without object)
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blights,
present (3rd person singular)
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blighted,
past participle, past
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blighting
present participle
noun
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any plant disease characterized by withering and shrivelling without rotting See also potato blight
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any factor, such as bacterial attack or air pollution, that causes the symptoms of blight in plants
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a person or thing that mars or prevents growth, improvement, or prosperity
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an ugly urban district
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the state or condition of being blighted or spoilt
verb
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to cause or suffer a blight
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(tr) to frustrate or disappoint
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(tr) to spoil; destroy
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Any of numerous plant diseases that cause leaves, stems, fruits, and tissues to wither and die. Rust, mildew, and smut are blights.
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The bacterium, fungus, or virus that causes such a disease.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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blightsimple
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blightssimple
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have blightedperfect
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has blightedperfect
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am blightingprogressive
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are blightingprogressive
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is blightingprogressive
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have been blightingperfect progressive
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has been blightingperfect progressive
Past
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blightedsimple
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had blightedperfect
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was blightingprogressive
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were blightingprogressive
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had been blightingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of blight
First recorded in 1605–15; of uncertain origin
Explanation
A blight is a disease that hurts plants and makes their leaves wither. It can also affect neighborhoods. Urban blight refers to a part of the city where things are falling apart. Blight rhymes with bright, but it’s the opposite of sunshine; instead of making plants grow, it cripples them. The Irish Potato Famine was an example of a blight. In 1845, more than a third of the potato crops were ruined. The plants turned black and their leaves dried up and people who relied on potatoes for most of their meals also withered and experienced extreme hardship and hunger. You might want to think of it this way: a blight makes people — or plants — fight for their lives.
Vocabulary lists containing blight
St. Patrick's Day Vocabulary: Words With Irish and Gaelic Roots
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Oedipus the King
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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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:
The detonation is part of an $80 million blight elimination campaign targeting 7,000 abandoned homes and businesses, in a city that has lost more than half its population since its 1960 peak of 180,000.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
They added: "Homicides are at their lowest level in almost 50 years, theft and other offences that blight local areas are also falling, while charges are going up significantly."
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
While many saw blight at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Holbrook Street, a local artist saw opportunity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
NCST, a nonprofit that aims to boost affordable housing and fight neighborhood blight, praised provisions related to preservation and rehabilitation.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
Instead of a chestnut blight or Dutch elm disease or dogwood anthracnose, what if there was just a tree blight—something indiscriminate and unstoppable that swept through whole forests?
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
I wish we could point to a new robust corner of Minnehaha and Lake Street where the condemned Third Precinct still blights the corner, but we can’t.
From Salon ● Jun. 1, 2025
"We've committed to addressing the speed of play," Monahan said as he announced working group recommendations that will be implemented to try to erase one of the sport's biggest blights.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2025
To many, it’s ugly vandalism that blights the city.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2024
For the first time, digital data was available that allowed preventive action: spotting tree blights in early stages or providing comprehensive information on watersheds for crop planning and flood protection.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 30, 2023
Mars has no insects, parasites, or blights to deal with, and the Hab maintains perfect growing temperature and moisture at all times.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Since then they have knocked down 115 blighted homes, helping trigger new construction and renovations on those blocks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
When Melton became mayor in 2024, he said he sought advice from Detroit’s then-mayor, Mike Duggan, who had helped revitalize his city by eliminating blighted buildings and curbing the population exodus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
He announced that he would resign as prime minister and Labour Party leader in June after a string of scandals, missteps and policy U-turns blighted his leadership.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
The latter stages of McCullum's tenure have been blighted by off-field issues.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
The city made good on its promise to bulldoze blighted areas, demolishing thousands of derelict houses and hundreds of crumbling businesses in Hayti.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Slavery shaped the Americas for four centuries, blighting the entire hemisphere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2026
The 76-year-old retired state employee, former gun store owner and avid elk hunter from La Grande, Oregon, is on a mission to keep turbines and transmission towers from blighting the rural landscape.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2025
In the autumn of 1981, with three million unemployed and with riots blighting a number of inner city areas, Tebbit made the speech for which he will always be remembered.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2025
Next time you feel like littering, think of the bird you may harm and the beauty you are blighting.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 25, 2023
This I had believed with all my being, but now, though still inwardly affirming that belief, I felt a blighting hurt which prevented me from trying further to defend myself.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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.
