The disease afflicts an estimated two million people every year.
the South was afflicted by a severe drought
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But Thomas was afflicted by health troubles on the 26-56 Nets last year.—Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Sep. 2025 Americans live shorter lives than their European equivalents, McClatchy News reported in April, but the trend of stagnant life expectancy appears to be afflicting European nations the same, according to the study.—Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2025 The World Health Organization states that in 2021 alone, nearly 57 million people were afflicted with some form of dementia.—Forbes.com, 31 Aug. 2025 The most vulnerable — starving children, people afflicted with leprosy, and pregnant women without the remotest possibility of healthcare — always needed tending to; that colonial reality was intact.—Ritesh Mehta, IndieWire, 27 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for afflict
Word History
Etymology
Middle English afflihten "to excite, become distressed," probably verbal derivative of affliht, aflyght "disturbed, upset," borrowed from Latin afflīctus, past participle of afflīgere "to knock or strike down, ruin, distress severely," from ad-ad- + flīgere "to strike down" — more at profligate entry 1
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