blighted
Americanadjective
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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.
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dilapidated or deteriorated.
They saw the potential for the blighted building to provide affordable housing once renovated, and took on the project.
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(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.
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ruined or marred.
The people who forget their past are condemned to a blighted future.
verb
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing blighted
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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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.
England captain Brook, on his 27th birthday, started brightly but fell for 14 off seven balls when he got stuck on the front foot and was deceived by a flighted delivery.
From Barron's • Feb. 22, 2026
For instance, in addition to asymmetrical feathers, all the flighted birds had between 9 and 11 primary feathers.
From Science Daily • Feb. 12, 2024
The way Jesus generated enough power, on a beautifully flighted ball from Xhaka, to beat David Raya in the Brentford goal provided a glimpse of just how fit and strong Jesus actually is.
From BBC • Sep. 18, 2022
He flighted his shot low, and when the gusts died, his ball went over the back of the green.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 12, 2022
But no ship was there; nothing was there except the river-horses which rose and sank, and the crocodiles on the mud-banks, and the wildfowl that flighted inward from the sea to feed.
From Morning Star by Haggard, Henry Rider
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.
