Showing results for "blighted"

• past participle of blight.
• past tense form of blight.

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

• unblightedness
  noun
• unblighted
  adjective
• unblightedly
  adverb

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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

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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

See Examples For:

blighted

But the blighted, white-painted structure stood for more than a decade.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

I know that firsthand, having grown up without economic privilege and having worked in neighborhoods blighted by socioeconomic hardship.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 26, 2026

But his tenure was an unpopular one, blighted by the Asian financial crisis, record unemployment and unease over Chinese interference in Hong Kong's affairs.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

Since then they have knocked down 115 blighted homes, helping trigger new construction and renovations on those blocks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

And in the effort of it all, she had stunted herself, blighted herself, whittled herself to a bone of a thing.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

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Related Words

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

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