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
-
The murder scene was so gruesome and painful to process that the community simply burnt the house down.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Oct. 2025
-
Fumbling with the plastic nubs can be painful and frustrating.—
Zoe Gates,
Outside,
28 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
And then, sticking out like a sore thumb amidst all these names, is Mamukelashvili.—
John Hollinger,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
-
The cool temperature may also soothe sore gums.—
Lindsay Curtis,
Health,
25 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
In this aching, unorthodox historical drama, Davies tells the story of the pacifist poet and veteran Siegfried Sassoon, whose experiences fighting in the First World War forever transformed him.—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
5 Aug. 2025
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Braxton shares an aching need to be vulnerable only to realize by album’s end that such unions can result in horrible betrayal, her words of lament surrounded by swelling, lush orchestration.—
Clarence A. Haynes
July 3,
Literary Hub,
3 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Afflictive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/afflictive. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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