afflicts
Brings pain upon
Afflicts is the third-person singular of afflict, meaning to cause pain, suffering, or distress.
Diseases afflict populations; guilt afflicts the conscience; poverty afflicts communities.
The word suggests ongoing or persistent trouble rather than a single blow: Drought afflicts the region every summer.
What afflicts someone weighs on them continuously.
Bodily or emotional distress
- anguishIntense mental suffering
- miseryIntense prolonged distress
- distressSevere anxiety or suffering
- griefIntense sorrow from loss
sorrow · agony · woe · hardship · trauma · despair · heartache · adversity
State of poor health
- maladyA bodily affliction
- ailmentMinor health problem
- syndromeLinked symptoms forming pattern
- conditionState or stipulation
disorder · infection · virus · pathogen · epidemic · pandemic · contagion · outbreak
Measure of heaviness
- strainExcessive stretching force
- stressPressure, mental or vocal
- pressureForce upon contact
- oppressionUnjust exercise of power
yoke · encumbrance · handicap · impediment · curse · blight · scourge · plague
pain
Bodily or emotional distress
grief · sorrow · agony · woe · hardship · trauma · despair · heartache · adversity · tragedy
illness
State of poor health
condition · disorder · infection · virus · pathogen · epidemic · pandemic · contagion · outbreak · sickness
weight
Measure of heaviness
oppression · yoke · encumbrance · handicap · impediment · curse · blight · scourge · plague · besetting
tribulation
State of great distress
- ordealDifficult, painful experience
- calamitySevere misfortune or disaster
- catastropheDevastating, large-scale misfortune
crisis · turmoil · strife · setback · misfortune · disaster · plight · woe · beset · beleaguer