Definition

1. Verb (transitive):
   • To strike or hit someone or something forcefully, especially with the hand or a weapon: This is the most literal and often archaic meaning, involving a powerful, deliberate blow.
   • To affect or afflict someone or something severely, as if by a blow: This figurative sense means to cause great suffering, distress, or destruction, often from a disease, emotion, or divine punishment.
   • To affect someone suddenly and powerfully with a strong emotion or desire: This sense describes being overwhelmingly struck by a feeling, such as love, fear, or awe.

Usage and Examples

• Literal Striking (often archaic or literary):

  • The hero raised his sword to smite the dragon.
  • According to the story, the giant was smitten by a stone from a sling.

• Afflicting Severely:

  • A terrible famine smote the land.
  • The army was smitten by a mysterious illness.

• Affecting with Sudden Emotion:

  • He was utterly smitten with her from the moment they met.
  • A wave of nostalgia smote her when she saw the old house.

Advanced Usage and Nuances

• "Smite" is most commonly used in its past participle form "smitten" (less commonly "smote") when referring to being powerfully affected by emotion, especially love.
  • She was completely smitten by the charming stranger.
• In religious or mythological contexts, it often implies punishment or action from a divine or powerful force.
  • The prophet warned that the wicked would be smitten.
• The word carries a formal, literary, or old-fashioned tone and is rarely used in casual, modern speech for its literal meaning.

Variants and Related Words

• Smote: The simple past tense of "smite."
  • The knight smote his enemy.
• Smitten: The more common past participle.
  • A city smitten by plague. (Afflicted)
  • A man smitten with love. (Enamored)
• Smiter (noun): One who smites.
  • He was known as a smiter of evil.

Synonyms

• Strike: To hit.
• Afflict: To cause suffering.
• Beshrew (archaic): To curse or wish evil upon.
• Enamor: To fill with love (for the emotional sense).
• Overwhelm: To affect very strongly.

Phrasal Verbs / Common Constructions

• Smite down: To strike someone so they fall; to defeat or kill.
  • The champion was smitten down in the final round.
• Smite with: To afflict or affect someone using a specific thing.
  • He smote the idol with his staff. (Literal)
  • She was smitten with grief. (Figurative)

Idioms and Fixed Phrases

• Smite hip and thigh: To attack and defeat utterly and violently. (Biblical origin)
  • The general vowed to smite the rebels hip and thigh.
• To be smitten by/with: To be very much in love with someone or enamored of something.
  • He's been smitten with his new coworker for weeks.

Verb

1. cause physical pain or suffering in
   • afflict with the plague
2. affect suddenly with deep feeling
   • He was smitten with love for this young girl
3. inflict a heavy blow on, with the hand, a tool, or a weapon