Word.ws English Dictionary

afflicting

afflicting is the present participle and gerund 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

Noun

afflicting (plural afflictings)

  1. An affliction.
    • And so usual a thing it is for gracious hearts to be humbled under the afflictings of God, that affliction is upon that score called humiliation.1825, William Haslett, John Flavel, The Advices and Meditations, page 193

Forms of afflicting

pluralafflictings

Questions about afflicting

What does afflicting mean?
Afflicting means an affliction.
What is afflicting the present participle and gerund of?
Afflicting is the present participle and gerund of afflict.
What part of speech is afflicting?
Afflicting is a noun.
What is the plural of afflicting?
The plural of afflicting is afflictings.

Words near afflicting in the dictionary

  1. afflictees
  2. afflicter
  3. afflicters
  4. afflictest
  5. afflicteth
  6. afflicting
  7. afflictingly
  8. afflictings
  9. affliction
  10. afflictionless
  11. afflictions

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: afflicting (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “afflicting.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/afflicting. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.