blight
blight Lexical Profile
blight Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To infect or cause to wither with a plant disease.
"An unseasonal frost and damp weather combined to blight the newly planted tomato crop."
To spoil, harm, or ruin the growth, quality, or prospects of something.
"A series of knee injuries threatened to blight the young athlete's promising career."
• noun
A plant disease, typically caused by fungi, bacteria, or oomycetes, characterized by the rapid browning, withering, and death of leaves, flowers, or stems.
"The late potato blight devastated harvests across Europe in the mid-nineteenth century."
Something that impairs, mars, or destroys a community, environment, or condition; a persistent cause of decline or ruin.
"Abandoned factories and neglected lots had become a severe blight on the historic neighborhood."
• Rhymes for blight
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the early 17th century as an agricultural term of uncertain origin, possibly connected to Old English blæce ('skin eruption') or Old Norse blikna ('to grow pale or wither').