əˈflikt transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English afflicten, from Latin afflictus, past participle of affligere to cast down, deject, from ad- + fligere to strike — more at profligate
1. obsolete
a. : humble
that we might afflict ourselves before our God — Ezra 8:21 (Authorized Version)
b. : to strike down : overthrow
in hope to find better abode, and my afflicted powers to settle here on earth — John Milton
2.
a. : to distress severely so as to cause continued suffering
cutting off the food supply and afflicting the people with dearth — J.G.Frazer
strife between the Emperors and Popes which afflicted the Middle Ages — Herbert Agar
b. : trouble
the mummers themselves were not afflicted with any such feeling for their art — Thomas Hardy
: injure , damage
that debasement of the verbal currency which afflicts terms used in advertising — Times Literary Supplement
Synonyms:
torture , torment , rack , grill , try : afflict is a general term that is applicable to most situations involving distress or difficulty. It is often interchangeable with the following words although it lacks their more specific suggestions and stresses the fact of affliction rather than the manner. torture is the strongest word in the group in suggesting most extreme infliction of pain, suffering, anguish, strain
until his eye be tortured out with fire — P.B.Shelley
and laid the strips and jagged ends of flesh even once more, and slacked the sinew's knot of every tortured limb — Robert Browning
Although the two may be interchangeable, torment may have a less extreme suggestion than torture and may imply greater continuity or customary practice
it was inevitable that the older boys should become mischievous louts; they bullied and tormented and corrupted the younger boys — H.G.Wells
other epochs had been tormented by the misery of the existence and the terror of the unknown — Humanist
rack is likely to suggest a straining or wrenching with stress, duress, disease, pain, or emotion
Thucydides' world was a place racked and ruined and disintegrated by war — Edith Hamilton
a lean and nameless phantom racked by a consumptive cough — American Scholar
Although grill orig. suggested the torment of being broiled, it has weakened and is likely to suggest less pain than the preceding words; it is usually used in situations involving stringent cross-examination or, in the present participle, in situations involving much vexation and agitation
representatives of Intelligence … they gave his lordship a respectful but thorough grilling — Upton Sinclair
a grilling afternoon trying to work despite confusions and interruptions
try implies that which tests one's endurance, stamina, control
other men were tried by puny ailments, were not searched and shaken by one tremendous shock — George Meredith
it tried her that he gave her no encouragement — Willa Cather