INFLICT

inflict, bring down, visit, impose

(verb) impose something unpleasant; “The principal visited his rage on the students”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

inflict (third-person singular simple present inflicts, present participle inflicting, simple past and past participle inflicted)

To thrust upon; to impose.

Source: Wiktionary


In*flict", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Inflicted; p. pr. & vb. n. Inflicting.] Etym: [L. inflictus, p.p. of infligere to strike on, to inflict; pref. in- in, on + fligere to strike. Cf. Flail.]

Definition: To give, cause, or produce by striking, or as if by striking; to apply forcibly; to lay or impose; to send; to cause to bear, feel, or suffer; as, to inflict blows; to inflict a wound with a dagger; to inflict severe pain by ingratitude; to inflict punishment on an offender; to inflict the penalty of death on a criminal. What heart could wish, what hand inflict, this dire disgrace Drygen. The persecution and the pain That man inflicts on infero-ior kinds. Cowper.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

18 May 2025

OBLIQUE

(adjective) slanting or inclined in direction or course or position--neither parallel nor perpendicular nor right-angled; “the oblique rays of the winter sun”; “acute and obtuse angles are oblique angles”; “the axis of an oblique cone is not perpendicular to its base”


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Coffee Trivia

You can overdose on coffee if you drink about 30 cups in a brief period to get close to a lethal dosage of caffeine.

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