blighted

American  

[blahy-tid] / ˈblaɪ tɪd /

adjective

1. 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.

2. dilapidated or deteriorated.

   They saw the potential for the blighted building to provide affordable housing once renovated, and took on the project.

3. (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.

4. ruined or marred.

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

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verb

1. 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

Explanation

Use the adjective blighted to describe something that has a condition that makes it weak or unable to grow, like a blighted lawn with more brown patches than green. Language experts can’t agree on the exact origins of the word blighted, but when it entered English in the sixteenth century it was used to describe a skin condition. Today, you’ll hear the word applied to plants that are affected by a condition that causes them to wither and die, like a blighted tomato crop, or to describe the neglect and decay of places, such as blighted buildings that pose safety hazards.

Example Sentences

Hodgson's previous spell was blighted by a financial crisis, and this is another job that requires the ship to be steadied.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

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

We’ve been so busy trying to rewrite our own pasts, we’ve blighted their present.

From "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by J.K. Rowling

Related Words

• broken
• demolished
• devastated
• lost
• ravaged
• ruined
• shattered
• smashed
• wrecked