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potato blight

British  

noun

  1. a devastating disease of potatoes produced by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans and the cause of the Irish potato famine of the mid-19th century

"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

Example Sentences

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Multiple factors caused the famine, including the potato blight that destroyed the main source of food, and the political and socioeconomic circumstances of British colonial rule.

From BBC • May 22, 2026

Researchers believe that in the 1840s a strain of the pathogen Phytophthora infestans, which causes potato blight, followed trade routes from Mexico to Belgium, where it began damaging crops.

From Salon • Feb. 14, 2022

Von Hippel begins with efforts to tackle the causes of potato blight, which triggered the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s, and vector-borne diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and typhus.

From Nature • Aug. 30, 2020

One species Phytophthora infestans causes the potato blight, which led to the Irish potato famine.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

They say they used to give pauper children soup to change to protestants in the time of the potato blight.

From Ulysses by Joyce, James

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