inflict
to impose as something that must be borne or suffered: to inflict punishment.
to impose (anything unwelcome): The regime inflicted burdensome taxes on the people.
to deal or deliver, as a blow.
Origin of inflict
1Other words from inflict
- in·flict·a·ble, adjective
- in·flict·er, in·flic·tor, noun
- in·flic·tive, adjective
- pre·in·flict, verb (used with object)
- un·in·flict·ed, adjective
Words that may be confused with inflict
Words Nearby inflict
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use inflict in a sentence
The GRU has been tied to more than a decade of advanced hacking campaigns, including several that have inflicted serious damage to national security.
Russian state hackers are targeting Biden and Trump campaigns, MSFT warns | Dan Goodin | September 11, 2020 | Ars TechnicaWall Street has proven to be one of the biggest enemies of working people, but the Democratic Party’s 2020 platform mentions Wall Street only four times, with zero mention of the pain private equity firms like THL inflict on communities like mine.
Why the Democratic Party must make a clean break with Wall Street | matthewheimer | September 8, 2020 | FortuneHong Kong activists say that Cellebrite’s tech is “used to inflict terrorism on the city’s residents and to attack demonstrators and pro-democracy activists.”
Israeli phone hacking company faces court fight over sales to Hong Kong | Patrick O'Neill | August 25, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewThey all stood a good chance to recover from their self-inflicted SEO hangover, even to improve their organic search performance significantly beyond what was deemed their SERP ceiling in the past.
It looks like she saw the harm such a policy was inflicting, and on her own, she fixed it.
OPINION: Looking at Kamala Harris’ record on trans and progressive issues — the facts matter | Rachael Rose Luckey | August 19, 2020 | Washington Blade
The rise of ISIS has revealed the horrors that people are willing to inflict upon one another.
All Aboard the USS Persecution Complex | Candida Moss, Joel Baden | October 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThese targets would be selected for the pain and difficulty they would inflict on the ISIS leadership.
Airstrikes Against ISIS Are Tactics. Here's a Strategy | Daniel L. Davis | September 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMost of all, how could anyone film—or inflict upon viewers—such gratuitous, relentlessly grubby sexual content?
So cutting off the petro-Euros flowing back to Russia would inflict at least as much pain on Europe as it would on Russia.
And with RT, these losers have a global platform through which they can inflict their psychoses on the rest of us.
Watch RT, Putin's TV Network, Call the Cops on Me | James Kirchick | March 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTFrom that region they issue to inflict diseases, especially blindness and deafness.
Solomon and Solomonic Literature | Moncure Daniel ConwayLike his father, he had to bear all that Spanish envy and Spanish malignity could inflict.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.Accordingly the Marshal was able to surprise and defeat Blake, and then to turn and inflict a similar defeat on Cuesta.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonThe ships fired upon each other, but they could not inflict serious damage.
Hallowed Heritage: The Life of Virginia | Dorothy M. TorpeyYou inflict a punishment which confers honour on the culprit in the eyes of the only persons for whose opinion he cares.
The Chequers | James Runciman
British Dictionary definitions for inflict
/ (ɪnˈflɪkt) /
(often foll by on or upon) to impose (something unwelcome, such as pain, oneself, etc)
rare to cause to suffer; afflict (with)
to deal out (blows, lashes, etc)
Origin of inflict
1Derived forms of inflict
- inflictable, adjective
- inflicter or inflictor, noun
- infliction, noun
- inflictive, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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