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)
verb (used without object)
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
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have blightedperfect
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has blightedperfect 3rd person singular
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has been blightingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is blightingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been blightingperfect progressive
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am blightingprogressive 1st person singular
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are blightingprogressive
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blightingparticiple
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blightssingular 3rd person
Past
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had blightedperfect
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were blightingprogressive plural
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had been blightingperfect progressive
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was blightingprogressive singular
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blightedparticiple
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blightedsimple
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.
The apology was accompanied by the release of a 448-page book - Yale and Slavery: A history - by Prof Blight that gives an insight into just how much Elihu Yale profited from slavery.
From BBC • Mar. 12, 2024
“Yet, working-class neighborhoods like the ones I represent struggle with this issue every day. Blight is unacceptable no matter the ZIP Code, and we deserve to have the same sense of urgency.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2024
Among the projects Higher Ground has in development is a film adaptation of “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography by David W. Blight.
From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2023
As Blight wrote, Black Americans who celebrated Memorial Day "converted Confederate ruin into their own festival of freedom."
From Salon • May 29, 2023
I, for one, will not be sorry to say good-bye to Mr. Blight.
From The Nameless Island A Story of some Modern Robinson Crusoes by Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)
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.
