blight

1 of 2

noun

ˈblīt 

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

4

: a deteriorated condition

urban blight

blight

2 of 2

verb

blighted; blighting; blights

transitive verb

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

intransitive verb

botany : to suffer from or become affected with blight

The potatoes blighted.

Synonyms of blight

Noun

• defect
• blotch
• scar
• mark

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

Noun

Falling scaffolding at 14th and Peachtree A skeletal, half-finished building in Midtown that has sat neglected for five years has gotten so bad, City Council members approved a measure to impose a blight tax on it earlier this year. — Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 15 July 2026

The same biological world that gives rise to forests, coral reefs and human life also produces infections, cancer, genetic disease, crop blights and toxins. — Tara Deans, The Conversation, 8 July 2026

Verb

The goal is to figure out how the presence or absence of a particular gene, the matching mRNA transcripts or cellular biochemicals that a gene codes for relates to blight resistance. — Steve Strauss, The Conversation, 22 July 2026

Watering in the evening increases the chances of fungal diseases like powdery mildew and blight developing on your plants if moisture remains on the leaves overnight. — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 22 July 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

of obscure origin

Verb

verbal derivative of blight entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1578, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1695, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing blight

• chestnut blight
• fire blight
• late blight
• potato blight

Rhymes for blight

• bight
• bite
• byte
• cite
• dight
• fight
• fite
• flight
• fright
• height
• hight
• kite

Kids Definition

blight

1 of 2 noun

ˈblīt 

1

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 verb

1

: 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

ˈblīt 

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