inflict

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnflīctus, past participle of īnflīgō, from in- + flīgō (“strike”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈflɪkt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkt

Verb

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

1. To thrust upon; to impose.

   They inflicted terrible pains on her to obtain a confession.

   • 1937, Josephus, Ralph Marcus, transl., chapter VIII, in Josephus: With an English Translation (Loeb Classical Library), volume VI (Jewish Antiquities), London: William Heinemann Ltd.; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, published 1958, →OCLC, book IX, paragraph 1, page 87:

     Now Azaēlos, the king of Syria, made war on the Israelites and their king Jehu, and ravaged the eastern parts of the country across the Jordan […] spreading fire everywhere and plundering everything and inflicting violence on all who fell into his hands.

   • 2011 June 15, Tony White, Working with Suicidal Individuals: A Guide to Providing Understanding, Assessment and Support‎, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 87:

     This allowed me to continue inflicting this injury on myself long after I otherwise could have beared^[sic], I think.

Related terms

• infliction

Translations

thrust upon, impose

Bulgarian: причинявам (bg) (pričinjavam), налагам (bg) (nalagam) Catalan: infligir (ca) Finnish: aiheuttaa (fi), tuottaa (fi) French: infliger (fr) Galician: inflixir German: zufügen (de), (please verify) verhängen (de) Greek: Ancient: ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi) Italian: infliggere (it), comminare (it) Latin: infligo Persian: دچار کردن (dočâr kardan), تحمیل کردن (fa) (tahmil kardan) Portuguese: infligir (pt) Russian: наноси́ть (ru) (nanosítʹ), причиня́ть (ru) (pričinjátʹ), налага́ть (ru) (nalagátʹ) Spanish: infligir (es) Turkish: çarptırmak (tr), çektirmek (tr), uğratmak (tr)