affliction

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noun

Definition of AFFLICTION

1

a state of great suffering of body or mind <she listened with deep affliction as her daughter told her about the latest trouble she was in>

Synonyms affliction, agony, anguish, excruciation, hurt, misery, pain, rack, strait(s), torment, torture, travail, tribulation, woe

Related Words discomfort; cross, crucible, trial; heartache, heartbreak, joylessness, sadness, sorrow, unhappiness; emergency, pinch; asperity, difficulty, hardship, rigor; ache, pang, smarting, soreness, stitch, throe, twinge; danger, jeopardy, trouble

Near Antonyms comfort, consolation, solace; alleviation, assuagement, ease, relief; peace, security; well-being

2

deep sadness especially for the loss of someone or something loved <felt such great affliction over the destruction of the beautiful old home>

Synonyms affliction, anguish, dolefulness, dolor, grief, heartache, heartbreak, sorriness, woe

Related Words agony, distress, pain, suffering, torment; blue devils, blues, dejection, depression, desolateness, desolation, despair, despondence, despondency, disconsolateness, dispiritedness, distress, doldrums, downheartedness, dreariness, dumps, forlornness, gloom, gloominess, glumness, heartsickness, joylessness, melancholy, miserableness, misery, mopes, oppression, sorrowfulness, unhappiness, woefulness, wretchedness; contrition, guilt, regret, remorse, rue, self-reproach, shame; melancholia, self-pity

Near Antonyms gaiety (also gayety), gayness, humor, jollity, joviality, lightheartedness, merriment, merrymaking, mirth, mirthfulness; hopefulness, optimism, sunniness; enjoyment; content, contentedness, contentment

Antonyms blessedness, bliss, blissfulness, cheer, cheerfulness, cheeriness, delight, ecstasy, elatedness, elation, euphoria, exhilaration, exuberance, exultation, felicity, gladness, gladsomeness, glee, gleefulness, happiness, joy, joyfulness, joyousness, jubilation, pleasure, rapture, rapturousness

3

a source of harm or misfortune <alcohol has been his affliction ever since he took his first drink at the age of 12>

Synonyms affliction, curse, nemesis, scourge

Related Words hex, hoodoo, jinx; danger, hazard, menace, peril, risk, threat, trouble; booby trap, catch, pitfall, snag

Near Antonyms advantage, aid, assistance, gift, help, relief, support; comfort, consolation, solace; delight, joy, pleasure; armor, defense, guard, protection, safeguard, safety, security, shield

Antonyms benefit, blessing, boon, felicity, godsend, good, manna, windfall

4

a source of persistent emotional distress <suffered from afflictions that only a professional therapist could deal with>

Synonyms affliction, hang-up, terror, torment

Related Words bête noire, bogey (also bogie or bogy), bugaboo, bugbear, hobgoblin, ogre

5

something that causes loss or pain <cronyism and corruption are afflictions on the body politic>

Synonyms affliction, damage, detriment, harm, hurt

Related Words disservice, injustice, outrage, wrong; affront, dart, indignity, insult, offense (or offence); beating, crippling, mayhem, mutilation; defacement, disability, disablement, disfigurement, impairment; lesion; rupture, strain; abrasion, chafe, scrape, scratch; boo-boo, bruise, contusion, swelling, wound; bump, concussion; cut, gash, laceration; burn, scald, scar, scathe, sear

Near Antonyms healing, recovery; cure, fix, remedy