blighted

American

[blahy-tid] / ˈblaɪ tɪd /

adjective

Plant Pathology. affected with blight, a disease or condition characterized by the rapid and extensive discoloration, wilting, and death of plant tissues.

Small, black fungal fruiting bodies form on the blighted twigs and produce infective spores.
dilapidated or deteriorated.

They saw the potential for the blighted building to provide affordable housing once renovated, and took on the project.
(of a region, city, area, etc.) not flourishing; stagnant, run-down, socially depressed, etc..

A new fitness center and natural foods market are replacing a blighted corner with jobs, economic activity, and healthier lifestyles.
ruined or marred.

The people who forget their past are condemned to a blighted future.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of blight.

Other Word Forms

unblighted adjective
unblightedly adverb
unblightedness noun

Etymology

Origin of blighted

blight + -ed ² ( def. ) blight for defs. 1, 2, 4; blight + -ed ³ ( def. ) blight for def. 3; blight + -ed ¹ ( def. ) blighted for def. 5

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.

On a frigid January day Ms. Kozma drove me around a dense industrial area, pointing out how factory construction has blighted the landscape and disrupted traffic.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 18, 2026

O’Brien is right, we desperately need hope, something to hold onto when the world and the film industry are at their most bleak and blighted.

From Salon • Mar. 16, 2026

“Right in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, the blighted Oceanwide Plaza has been an eyesore for too long due to failed ownership,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement Friday.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026

In Small Heath, an inner-city area blighted by piles of uncollected waste on street corners throughout the strike, residents said sometimes bins could go uncollected for six or seven weeks.

From BBC • Jan. 6, 2026

The proudest city in all the world was gone in an instant, its fabled empire vanished in a day, the Lands of the Long Summer scorched and drowned and blighted.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023