Definition

1. Noun:
   • A cause of great suffering and distress: An event, circumstance, or condition that inflicts severe pain, sorrow, or hardship.
   • A condition of suffering or distress due to ill health: A state of being afflicted, especially by disease or chronic ailment.
   • A state of great suffering and distress due to adversity: The experience of enduring pain, misery, or misfortune.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • Poverty is a terrible affliction for many families. (Poverty is a cause of great suffering.)
  • She bore her affliction with remarkable courage. (She endured her state of suffering with courage.)
  • The loss of his sight was a severe affliction. (The condition of blindness caused him great distress.)

Advanced Usage

• "To be in affliction": To be in a state of suffering or distress.
  • The community was in deep affliction after the natural disaster.
• "An affliction upon": A literary way to describe a misfortune that befalls someone or something.
  • The plague was seen as an affliction upon the land.

Variants and Related Words

• Afflict (verb): To cause suffering or unhappiness to.
  • A disease that afflicts the elderly.
• Afflicted (adjective): Suffering from something painful or distressing.
  • The afflicted patient sought relief.

Synonyms

• Suffering: The state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship.
• Tribulation: A cause of great trouble or suffering.
• Adversity: Difficulties; misfortune.
• Hardship: Severe suffering or privation.

Related Phrases

• Bearer of affliction: One who endures suffering.
  • He was a quiet bearer of affliction.
• Time of affliction: A period marked by suffering.
  • They supported each other through their time of affliction.

Related Idioms

• A cross to bear: A problem or affliction one must endure.
  • He considered his chronic illness his cross to bear.
• The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune: The hardships and afflictions of life (from Shakespeare's ).
  • We must endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Noun

1. a cause of great suffering and distress
2. a condition of suffering or distress due to ill health
3. a state of great suffering and distress due to adversity