blights
Ruins from within
Blights is the plural of blight—diseases or conditions that damage plants, causing them to wither and die: potato blights, tomato blights.
By extension, anything that spoils or destroys can be called a blight: urban blights, the blights of poverty and neglect.
As a verb form, blights means ruins or damages: Corruption blights the whole system.
Fatal epidemic disease
- infestationPest takeover situation
- fungusSpore-bearing organism
- mildewFungus from dampness
- rotOrganic breakdown process
wilting · rust · canker · scab · aphids · locusts · weevils · beetles
Process of declining quality
- rotOrganic breakdown process
- decompositionBreakdown into simpler parts
- degradationDecline in condition
- disintegrationProcess of breaking apart
spoilage · withering · desiccation · shriveling · wilting · atrophy · senescence · necrosis
Cause of mass suffering
- plagueDeadly epidemic disease
- curseInvoked harm through words
- afflictionCause of ongoing distress
- menaceSource of potential harm
epidemic · cancer · corruption · poverty · inequality · crime · addiction · homelessness
Offensively unattractive thing
- slumImpoverished urban district
- dilapidationState of ruin
- abandonmentAct of leaving permanently
- derelictionAbandonment of duty
vacancy · condemned · rundown · neglect · decay · wasteland · brownfield · inner-city
pestilence
Fatal epidemic disease
- infestationPest takeover situation
- fungusSpore-bearing organism
- mildewFungus from dampness
rot · wilting · rust · canker · scab · aphids · locusts · weevils · beetles · mites
deterioration
Process of declining quality
- rotOrganic breakdown process
- decompositionBreakdown into simpler parts
- degradationDecline in condition
disintegration · spoilage · withering · desiccation · shriveling · wilting · atrophy · senescence · necrosis · dieback
scourge
Cause of mass suffering
- plagueDeadly epidemic disease
- curseInvoked harm through words
- afflictionCause of ongoing distress
menace · epidemic · cancer · corruption · poverty · inequality · crime · addiction · homelessness · unemployment
eyesore
Offensively unattractive thing
- slumImpoverished urban district
- dilapidationState of ruin
- abandonmentAct of leaving permanently
dereliction · vacancy · condemned · rundown · neglect · decay · wasteland · brownfield · inner-city · tenement
- catastrophesdisasters, disaster, natural disasters, catastrophe, apocalypse
- plant diseaseswilt, rot, canker, root rot, leaf spot
- cursescurse, curses, hex, hexes, jinx
- urban blightDeterioration of city areas
- potato blightFungal tuber infection
- crop blightDisease destroying cultivated plants
- fire blightBacterial infection of fruit trees
- tomato blightPlant disease affecting nightshades
- late blightPlant disease rotting tubers