blight

1 of 2

noun

ˈblīt 

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

4

: a deteriorated condition

urban blight

blight

2 of 2

verb

blighted; blighting; blights

transitive verb

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

intransitive verb

botany : to suffer from or become affected with blight

The potatoes blighted.

Synonyms

Noun

• defect
• blotch
• scar
• mark

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

Noun

The combination of a plea agreement and a suspension provides a finality, of sorts, to the blight hanging over the past 17 months. —Kansas City Star, 28 Aug. 2025

The warm and wet conditions that fueled crop growth also fostered fungal diseases such as tar spot, southern rust and northern blight in corn, and sudden death syndrome in soybeans. —Reuters, NBC news, 23 Aug. 2025

Verb

During the pandemic, Republicans — and some moderate Democrats — parlayed concerns about visible property crime and blight in blue cities into winning electoral strategies, even as violent crime has dropped in recent decades. —Lia Russell, Sacbee.com, 29 Aug. 2025

Underlying causes of crime, such as poverty and other socioeconomic issues, have blighted the city. —Rebecca Schneid, Time, 28 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

of obscure origin

Verb

verbal derivative of blight entry 1

First Known Use

Noun

1578, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1695, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Phrases Containing blight

• chestnut blight
• fire blight
• late blight
• potato blight

Rhymes for blight

• bight
• bite
• byte
• cite
• dight
• fight
• fite
• flight
• fright
• height
• hight
• kite

Kids Definition

blight

1 of 2 noun

ˈblīt 

1

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 verb

1

: 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

ˈblīt 

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