affliction

noun

af·flic·tion | \ ə-ˈflik-shən

Definition of affliction

1 : a cause of persistent pain or distress a mysterious affliction

2 : great suffering felt empathy with their affliction

3 : the state of being afflicted by something that causes suffering her affliction with polio

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Examples of affliction in a Sentence

She lost her sight and is now learning to live with her affliction. He died from a mysterious affliction.

Recent Examples on the Web

For instance, a small fish that dies to plastic poisoning could be eaten by a bigger fish, which would then inherit that damaging plastic as well as the affliction. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "A Whale Washed Up on a Beach with 88 Pounds of Plastic in Its Stomach," 19 Mar. 2019 Most obsessives are encumbered by their affliction. — John Anderson, WSJ, "The Heights of Obsession," 22 Feb. 2019 People think that only athletes and weekend warriors suffer from this affliction. — Joe Queenan, WSJ, "Museums We Never Knew We Were Missing," 9 Aug. 2018 Balzac's Sylvain Pons, Proust's Charles Swann, and, most of all, Huysmans's Jean des Esseintes are all presented as victims of an insatiable affliction, the obsessive compulsion to possess. — James Mcauley, Town & Country, "A Secret Paris Museum and an Aristocratic Family Decimated by the Holocaust," 9 Feb. 2017 While these are not easy afflictions to heal, and perhaps impossible to cure, one of the greatest threats to recovery remains the stubborn (and often idealistic) unwillingness of those who wield the scalpels to cut away the sickness. — Laura Hudson, The Verge, "Twitter is wrong: facts are not enough to combat Alex Jones," 10 Aug. 2018 Three years ago, as smoke poured in from Eastern Washington, Mishka developed asthma, possibly the first otter to be diagnosed with the affliction. — Sean Quinton, The Seattle Times, "Mishka the asthmatic otter at Seattle Aquarium has mastered her inhaler to get through the haze," 24 Aug. 2018 Democrats are turning to branding to mask the underlying affliction in their party: a lack of a unifying force or vision for Americans to rally around. — Liz Goodwin, BostonGlobe.com, "Democrats struggle to forge unifying midterm message," 26 May 2018 Interspersed with these put-downs are risible, often mystifying passages in which Ortese pontificates on class, politics and the afflictions of Naples and southern Italy. — Ben Downing, WSJ, "‘Neapolitan Chronicles’ Review: Naples Painted Black," 6 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'affliction.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.