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
Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 16 June 2025
Use a diluted cinnamon spray to fight fungal diseases such as gray mold and tomato blight, and help protect young seedlings from damping off.
—Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 6 June 2025
The Editors, National Review, 2 June 2025
This season, despite serious injury blighting his mid-twenties, Patrik Schick has re-emerged as a prolific goalscorer.
—Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, New York Times, 13 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for blight
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Noun
City residents often reports about the blight and crime that are attracted to vacant lots.
—Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 16 June 2025
Use a diluted cinnamon spray to fight fungal diseases such as gray mold and tomato blight, and help protect young seedlings from damping off.
—Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 6 June 2025
Verb
It is also blighted by Tanenhaus’s hobbyhorses, which are especially evident in his caviling when promoting his book.
—The Editors, National Review, 2 June 2025
This season, despite serious injury blighting his mid-twenties, Patrik Schick has re-emerged as a prolific goalscorer.
—Sebastian Stafford-Bloor, New York Times, 13 May 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 1 Jul. 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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