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afflict

[uh-flikt] / əˈflɪkt /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Sleepless nights still afflict Maria occasionally but box breathing is something she knows can help her deal with periods that might feel overwhelming.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

The cost of common conditions that afflict retirees — from chronic illness to cardiovascular disease to cognitive decline — can deplete your savings with alarming speed.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 15, 2026

“We find AEE a compelling story that should command a top tier premium amidst positive catalyst execution and lack of political/regulatory downside risk that afflict many peers.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

However distanced you may feel from these effects, it’s worth pointing out that historically, what happens to Black workers comes to afflict all of America.

From Slate ● Sep. 10, 2025

Among animals, too, epidemic diseases require large, dense populations and don’t afflict just any animal: they’re confined mainly to social animals providing the necessary large populations.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Or is Juneteenth a celebration of the strength and excellence that both grew out of the great evil that slavery represented and in spite of it, an evil that still afflicts the nation in 2026?

From Salon ● Jun. 19, 2026

It solves what I might call the Brennan problem, which afflicts officials who might otherwise have to spend their natural lives ducking and weaving about what they did in office.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 11, 2025

An unusual autumn heat wave afflicts California, with elevated fire concerns that on Monday prompted some power shutoffs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2024

To get coverage they need support, and to get support they need coverage - the vicious circle that afflicts all but the two main parties in Westminster.

From BBC ● May 31, 2024

People say he’s angry, and hermitlike, but it's loneliness that afflicts him.

From "Son" by Lois Lowry

He advocated for the creation of institutions, colloquially known as leper colonies, for those afflicted with perhaps the world’s most stigmatized disease.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Throughout this year, the entire country seems to have been afflicted with the weather-app blues.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

Several European nations have been afflicted by wildfires this summer during a succession of heatwaves.

From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026

"I don't know of any other center in the world that trains exorcists," Syquia said of the two-storey facility built largely with donations from local families of the previously afflicted.

From Barron's ● Jul. 19, 2026

“You are not understanding what has afflicted him,” Maire Solanya said.

From "Ash" by Malinda Lo

A return to industrial musicals in the age of A.I. didn’t strike me as a solution for all the woes afflicting the performing arts, from pricey tickets to the increasingly blatant corporatization of the arts.

From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2026

What follows are the factors afflicting each region or market.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 17, 2026

Their bread-and-butter is comforting the most comfortable by afflicting the most afflicted.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026

Their case is helped by the crisis afflicting Dundee University and evidence that much of further education is heading deep into the red and facing possible closures.

From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026

She told me how a strange plague once broke out, afflicting hundreds, Gertrude among them, and how she nursed the queen from the very brink of death to complete health again.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein




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