1
botany
a
: a disease or injury of plants marked by the formation of lesions, withering, and death of parts (such as leaves and tubers)
potato blight
b
: an organism (such as an insect or a fungus) that causes blight
2
: something that frustrates plans or hopes
the blight of poverty
an abandoned factory that was a blight on the neighborhood
3
: something that impairs or destroys
… censorship … has brought under its blight Ireland's greatest poets, dramatists, and scholars.—
Paul Blanshard
Paul Blanshard4
: a deteriorated condition
urban blight
blighted; blighting; blights
1
botany
: to affect (a plant) with a disease or injury marked by the formation of lesions, withering, and death of parts (such as leaves and tubers) : to affect with blight (see blight entry 1 sense 1)
The apple trees were blighted by fungus.
2
: to impair the quality or effect of
the condition that has blighted his son's life—Patricia Guthrie
Patricia Guthrie
botany
: to suffer from or become affected with blight
The potatoes blighted.
Synonyms
Examples of blight in a Sentence
Noun
the city's spreading urban blight
the expanding urban sprawl is a blight on the countryside
Verb
Builders blighted the land with malls and parking lots.
Recent Examples on the Web
Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 31 Oct. 2024
In the years since citrus greening took hold, the ripple effects of the blight have compounded with an ever-present barrage of hurricanes, floods, and drought threatening growers.
—Ayurella Horn-Muller, WIRED, 3 Aug. 2024
Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024
The book, which explores the complex life of a brilliant boy who grew up in the crime ridden and blighted Orange, New Jersey, was written by Peace’s old Yale roommate.
—Lindsey Bahr, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for blight 
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Noun
Flower blight or petal blight is also caused by a fungal pathogen.
—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 31 Oct. 2024
In the years since citrus greening took hold, the ripple effects of the blight have compounded with an ever-present barrage of hurricanes, floods, and drought threatening growers.
—Ayurella Horn-Muller, WIRED, 3 Aug. 2024
Verb
The pipeline breakage is just the latest in a series of faults that have blighted the national park's water supplies in recent years.
—Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 27 Nov. 2024
The book, which explores the complex life of a brilliant boy who grew up in the crime ridden and blighted Orange, New Jersey, was written by Peace’s old Yale roommate.
—Lindsey Bahr, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Jan. 2024
See all Example Sentences for blight
Dictionary Entries Near blight
Cite this Entry
“Blight.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blight. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
blight
1 of 2 noun1
a
: a disease of plants marked by withering and death of parts (as leaves)
b
: an organism that causes blight
2
a
: something that harms or destroys
b
: a damaged or worsened condition
urban blight
blight
2 of 2 verb1
: to affect with blight
2
: to damage or worsen the quality or condition of
slums and blighted areas
3
: to suffer from or become affected with blight
Medical Definition
blight
noun
Australian
: an inflammation of the eye in which the eyelids discharge a thick mucous substance that often seals them up for days and minute granular pustules develop inside the lid
called also sandy blight
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