Difference between revisions of "Afflict - inflict"
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Its usage is most often in the active form: [Someone] '''inflicts''' [a pain or other undesirable thing] '''on''' [someone else]. | Its usage is most often in the active form: [Someone] '''inflicts''' [a pain or other undesirable thing] '''on''' [someone else]. | ||
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Revision as of 11:55, 19 June 2007
Afflict and inflict are two words close in meaning, coming from same root in Latin. The difference is mostly in the usage, particularly the prepositions:
- afflict [the victim] with [the suffering]; but
- inflict [the suffering] on [the victim]
To afflict is to distress (OED); or to cause suffering to. Its usage is most often in the passive voice. (This shows that it is a transitive verb.) Someone may be afflicted with arthritis, for example.
Much more rarely, it is used in the active voice. [Someone in authority - often a God] afflicts [a sufferer] with [punishment, trials or tribulations].
To inflict is to lay on, as a stroke or blow, or To impose something unwelcome. (Often jocular.) (OED).
Its usage is most often in the active form: [Someone] inflicts [a pain or other undesirable thing] on [someone else].
