1
botany
a
: a disease or injury of plants marked by the formation of lesions, withering, and death of parts (such as leaves and tubers)
potato blight
b
: an organism (such as an insect or a fungus) that causes blight
2
: something that frustrates plans or hopes
the blight of poverty
an abandoned factory that was a blight on the neighborhood
3
: something that impairs or destroys
… censorship … has brought under its blight Ireland's greatest poets, dramatists, and scholars.—
Paul Blanshard
Paul Blanshard4
: a deteriorated condition
urban blight
blighted; blighting; blights
1
botany
: to affect (a plant) with a disease or injury marked by the formation of lesions, withering, and death of parts (such as leaves and tubers) : to affect with blight (see blight entry 1 sense 1)
The apple trees were blighted by fungus.
2
: to impair the quality or effect of
the condition that has blighted his son's life—Patricia Guthrie
Patricia Guthrie
botany
: to suffer from or become affected with blight
The potatoes blighted.
Examples of blight in a Sentence
Noun
the city's spreading urban blight
the expanding urban sprawl is a blight on the countryside
Verb
Builders blighted the land with malls and parking lots.
Recent Examples on the Web
Corey Williams, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2025
Crime rates are high across the country, and a fire in Johannesburg that killed dozens two years ago brought global scrutiny to the city’s blight.
—Lee-Ann Olwage, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025
Louryn Strampe, Wired News, 22 Apr. 2025
As an evocative metaphor for the direction of the two rival seasons, this was cruel in its clarity: one Manchester team amid a season blighted by injury, while the other soars higher.
—Megan Feringa, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for blight
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Noun
The project on four lots will not only replace long-standing blight with majestic trees, but could also improve air quality and help preserve the trees that are native to California’s Sierra Nevada, where they are threatened by ever-hotter wildfires.
—Corey Williams, Los Angeles Times, 22 Apr. 2025
Crime rates are high across the country, and a fire in Johannesburg that killed dozens two years ago brought global scrutiny to the city’s blight.
—Lee-Ann Olwage, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2025
Verb
Kat Merck How to Buy Ethical and Eco-Friendly Electronics
Electronic waste, conflict minerals, and poor labor conditions are just a few issues blighting the tech industry.
—Louryn Strampe, Wired News, 22 Apr. 2025
As an evocative metaphor for the direction of the two rival seasons, this was cruel in its clarity: one Manchester team amid a season blighted by injury, while the other soars higher.
—Megan Feringa, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for blight
Cite this Entry
“Blight.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blight. Accessed 9 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
blight
1 of 2 noun1
a
: a disease of plants marked by withering and death of parts (as leaves)
b
: an organism that causes blight
2
a
: something that harms or destroys
b
: a damaged or worsened condition
urban blight
blight
2 of 2 verb1
: to affect with blight
2
: to damage or worsen the quality or condition of
slums and blighted areas
3
: to suffer from or become affected with blight
Medical Definition
blight
noun
Australian
: an inflammation of the eye in which the eyelids discharge a thick mucous substance that often seals them up for days and minute granular pustules develop inside the lid
called also sandy blight
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