Definition of blight
(Entry 1 of 2)
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
verb
blighted; blighting; blights
Definition of blight (Entry 2 of 2)
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
botany
: to suffer from or become affected with blight
The potatoes blighted.
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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Time Traveler for blight
The first known use of blight was in 1578
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