Word.ws English Dictionary

afflicted

Syllables: af·flict·ed/əˈflɪktɪd/

afflicted is the simple past and past participle of afflict.

Meaning of afflict

Verb

afflict (third-person singular simple present afflicts, present participle afflicting, simple past and past participle afflicted)

  1. (transitive) To cause (someone) pain, suffering or distress.
    • Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 1:11–12
  2. (obsolete) To strike or cast down; to overthrow; to result.
    • reassembling our afflicted powers1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  3. (obsolete) To make low or humble.
    • The Argument of mine afflicted stile1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Adjective

afflicted (comparative more afflicted, superlative most afflicted)

  1. Suffering from an affliction, or suffering from pain, distress or disability.

Forms of afflicted

comparativemore afflicted
superlativemost afflicted

Words formed from afflicted

Questions about afflicted

What does afflicted mean?
Afflicted means suffering from an affliction, or suffering from pain, distress or disability.
What is afflicted the simple past and past participle of?
Afflicted is the simple past and past participle of afflict.
What part of speech is afflicted?
Afflicted is an adjective.
How do you pronounce afflicted?
Afflicted is pronounced /əˈflɪktɪd/.

Words near afflicted in the dictionary

  1. afflatus
  2. afflatuses
  3. Affleck
  4. Afflecks
  5. afflict
  6. afflicted
  7. afflictedly
  8. afflictedness
  9. afflictee
  10. afflictees
  11. afflicter

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: afflicted (page history and authors); afflict (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-afflicted.wav.

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