as in painful
causing or feeling bodily pain
the afflictive disease known as shingles is a reactivation of the virus that causes chicken pox
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Recent Examples of afflictive
Perhaps this afflictive uncertainty can be redefined.
—
Krista Stevens, Longreads, 26 Apr. 2018
Krista Stevens, Longreads, 26 Apr. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for afflictive
Adjective
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An ultimate taboo, disclosing the impulse to kill one's child must be an unthinkably painful admission.—
Josh Hammer,
Newsweek,
16 Feb. 2025
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Watching De Zerbi trying to use a threadbare squad last season was painful at times.—
Andy Naylor,
The Athletic,
13 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Each set has two pre-spoons ideal for purées, doubling as a teether for sore gums, and an open-channel spoon for gripping to soft solids.—
Nora Colomer,
Fox News,
8 Feb. 2025
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In the series finale, Belle arrives late to Milla’s funeral, sticking out like a sore thumb amid friends and family burdened by genuine grief.—
Erin Jensen,
USA TODAY,
7 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Somebody Somewhere is tiny: a gorgeous, introspective, intimate story about a woman with devastatingly mundane problems whose chief obstacle is her own aching sense of grief and dislocation.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
9 Dec. 2024
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In this novel about the shape-shifting nature of love, Parsons captures Kit’s grief in aching and honest terms.—
Annabel Gutterman,
TIME,
6 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near afflictive
Cite this Entry
“Afflictive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/afflictive. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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