BLIGHT Synonyms: 95 Similar and Opposite Words

blight 1 of 2

noun

ˈblīt

Definition of blight

as in defect

something that spoils the appearance or completeness of a thing the expanding urban sprawl is a blight on the countryside

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

blight

2 of 2

verb

as in to damage

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of blight

Noun

Edgar Dueñas, the maintenance director for the school district, highlighted the risk of growing blight and security issues the longer the campus sits empty. — Ryan MacAsero, Mercury News, 30 Aug. 2026 Additional Things To Keep In Mind You can’t blame everything that goes wrong in your garden on a blight, bug, or other critter. — Steve Bender, Southern Living, 29 Aug. 2026

Verb

Meanwhile, two- to four-unit rental buildings that made up the preponderance of affordable housing for families in these areas have been lost to blight and disinvestment. — Jeffrey Steele, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026 The euphoria of scoring three goals in each half was somewhat blighted by the horrific injury to Koné. — Mark Hodge, NBC news, 19 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for blight

Recent Examples of Synonyms for blight

Noun

In a report on the outage published on Friday, NATS said a software defect in the National Airspace System, which allocates codes so air traffic controllers can identify flights on radar, was behind the decision to ax the flights.

— Pan Pylas, Los Angeles Times, 21 Sep. 2026
To bruise or wrinkle easily, in his thinking, is not necessarily a defect.

— Anna Cafolla, Vogue, 19 Sep. 2026

Definition of defect

Verb

The attack on Kyiv damaged more than 50 civilian sites, including apartment blocks, post offices, a maternity hospital and a textile plant, Vyhivskyi, the interior minister, said.

— HANNA ARHIROVA, Arkansas Online, 25 Sep. 2026
Tests also found that the electrical pulses used for communication did not damage tissue samples.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of damage

Noun

Juveniles can be distinguished by their dark facial bands and gray or tan body patterned with black or brown blotches.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 Sep. 2026
Crews are also using steam to remove blotches of chewing gum, which have turned black over time.

— ABC News, ABC News, 16 Aug. 2026

Definition of blotch

Verb

Before the attack, millions of books a year were printed in this space, where there’s now nothing but piles of swollen book stock, ruined after firefighters put out the blaze.

— ABC News, ABC News, 21 Sep. 2026
But Timothy Leary’s version became the dominant idea of psychedelics, and when President Ronald Reagan’s War on Drugs began, psychedelics were vilified as the gateway to ruin.

— Claire Hoffman, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of ruin

Noun

Heavy rain triggered a mudslide in an Inland Empire burn scar on Thursday, according to forecasters.

— Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026
This past spring, the singer-guitarist announced that hernia repair surgery left him with a six-and-a-half–inch scar and doctors’ orders never to growl again.

— Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 24 Sep. 2026

Definition of scar

Verb

The flip side of curing diseases is creating or advancing them to harm humanity.

— Barbara Ortutay, Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 2026
Other governments and experts said Cambodia has not done enough against the perpetrators of the scam industry that has harmed people globally and called for criminal prosecutions.

— ABC News, ABC News, 23 Sep. 2026

Definition of harm

Noun

The big question mark around these companies is whether the White House pushes through a ban or restriction on diesel fuel exports.

— Brian Sullivan, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2026
There, officers found Za’Riah with burn marks on her body and melted clothing, according to court documents.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of mark

Verb

That is my background too, and then also not take anyone for granted, have flawed characters but grounded and real, fully, three-dimensional.

— Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 23 Sep. 2026
Isolation of the Context-History Weights When a conversation gets long or tense, my system experiences a mathematical phenomenon where my own previous, flawed outputs heavily contaminate my active memory.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of flaw

Browse Nearby Words

blew up

blight

blighted

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Cite this Entry

Style

“Blight.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blight. Accessed 28 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of blight

noun

verb

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