Word Study
infliction
CIDE DICTIONARY
infliction, n. [L. inflictio: cf. F. infliction.].
- The act of inflicting or imposing; as, the infliction of torment, or of punishment. [1913 Webster]
- That which is inflicted or imposed, as punishment, disgrace, calamity, etc. [1913 Webster]"His severest inflictions are in themselves acts of justice and righteousness." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
infliction, n.
1 the act or an instance of inflicting.
2 something inflicted, esp. a troublesome or boring experience.
1 the act or an instance of inflicting.
2 something inflicted, esp. a troublesome or boring experience.
Etymology
LL inflictio (as INFLICT)
THESAURUS
infliction
affliction, bane, bitter cup, bitter draft, bitter draught, bitter pill, bother, bugbear, burden, burden of care, burdening, calamity, cankerworm of care, care, castigation, charging, chastening, chastisement, condign punishment, correction, cross, crown of thorns, crushing burden, curse, death, demand, deserts, destruction, disciplinary measures, discipline, disease, distress, encumbrance, evil, exaction, ferule, freighting, gall, gall and wormwood, grievance, harm, imposing an onus, imposition, inconsiderateness, inconvenience, judgment, judicial punishment, laying on, load, loading, loading down, nemesis, obtrusiveness, open wound, oppression, pack of troubles, pains, pains and punishments, pay, payment, peck of troubles, penal retribution, penalty, penology, pest, pestilence, plague, presumptuousness, punishment, punition, retribution, retributive justice, running sore, scourge, sea of troubles, sorrow, tasking, taxing, thorn, torment, trouble, unwarranted demand, vexation, visitation, waters of bitterness, weight, weighting, well-deserved punishment, what-for, woeROGET THESAURUS
infliction
Adversity
N adversity, evil, failure, bad luck, ill luck, evil luck, adverse luck, hard fortune, hard hap, hard luck, hard lot, frowns of fortune, evil dispensation, evil star, evil genius, vicissitudes of life, ups and downs of life, broken fortunes, hard case, hard lines, hard life, sea of troubles, peck of troubles, hell upon earth, slough of despond, trouble, hardship, curse, blight, blast, load, pressure, pressure of the times, iron age, evil day, time out of joint, hard times, bad times, sad times, rainy day, cloud, dark cloud, gathering clouds, ill wind, visitation, infliction, affliction, bitter pill, care, trial, the sport of fortune, mishap, mischance, misadventure, misfortune, disaster, calamity, catastrophe, accident, casualty, cross, reverse, check, contretemps, rub, backset, comedown, setback, losing game, falling, fall, downfall, ruination, ruinousness, undoing, extremity, ruin, unfortunate, unblest, unhappy, unlucky, improsperous, unprosperous, hoodooed, luckless, hapless, out of luck, in trouble, in a bad way, in an evil plight, under a cloud, clouded, ill off, badly off, in adverse circumstances, poor, behindhand, down in the world, decayed, undone, on the road to ruin, on its last legs, on the wane, in one's utmost need, planet-struck, devoted, born under an evil star, born with a wooden ladle in one's mouth, ill-fated, ill-starred, ill-omened, adverse, untoward, disastrous, calamitous, ruinous, dire, deplorable.Punishment
N punishment, punition, chastisement, chastening, correction, castigation, discipline, infliction, trial, judgment, penalty, retribution, thunderbolt, Nemesis, requital, penology, retributive justice, lash, scaffold, imprisonment, transportation, banishment, expulsion, exile, involuntary exile, ostracism, penal servitude, hard labor, galleys, beating, flagellation, fustigation, gantlet, strappado, estrapade, bastinado, argumentum baculinum, stick law, rap on the knuckles, box on the ear, blow, stripe, cuff, kick, buffet, pummel, slap, slap in the face, wipe, douse, coup de grace, torture, rack, picket, picketing, dragonnade, capital punishment, execution, lethal injection, the gas chamber, hanging, electrocution, rail-riding, scarpines, decapitation, decollation, garrotte, garrotto, crucifixion, impalement, firing squad, martyrdom, auto-da-fe, noyade, happy dispatch, hara-kiri, seppuku, drinking the hemlock, punishing, penal, punitory, punitive, inflictive, castigatory, punished, Int, a la lanterne!, culpan paena premit comes, eating the bitter bread of banishment, gravis ira regum est semper, sera tamen tacitis paena venit pedibus, suo sibi gladio hunc jugulo.Pain
N mental suffering, pain, dolor, suffering, sufferance, ache, smart, passion, displeasure, dissatisfaction, discomfort, discomposure, disquiet, malaise, inquietude, uneasiness, vexation of spirit, taking, discontent, dejection, weariness, anhedonia, annoyance, irritation, worry, infliction, visitation, plague, bore, bother, botheration, stew, vexation, mortification, chagrin, esclandre, mauvais quart d'heur, care, anxiety, solicitude, trouble, trial, ordeal, fiery ordeal, shock, blow, cark, dole, fret, burden, load, concern, grief, sorrow, distress, affliction, woe, bitterness, heartache, carking cares, heavy heart, aching heart, bleeding heart, broken heart, heavy affliction, gnawing grief, unhappiness, infelicity, misery, tribulation, wretchedness, desolation, despair, extremity, prostration, depth of misery, nightmare, ephialtes, incubus, pang, anguish, agony, torture, torment, purgatory, hell upon earth, iron age, reign of terror, slough of despond, peck of troubles, ills that flesh is heir to, miseries of human life, unkindest cut of all, sufferer, victim, prey, martyr, object of compassion, wretch, shorn lamb, in pain, in a state of pain, full of pain, suffering, pained, afflicted, worried, displeased, aching, griped, sore, on the rack, in limbo, between hawk and buzzard, uncomfortable, uneasy, ill at ease, in a taking, in a way, disturbed, discontented, out of humor, weary, heavy laden, stricken, crushed, a prey to, victimized, ill-used, unfortunate, to be pitied, doomed, devoted, accursed, undone, lost, stranded, fey, unhappy, infelicitous, poor, wretched, miserable, woe-begone, cheerless, careworn, concerned, sorry, sorrowing, sorrowful, cut up, chagrined, horrified, horror-stricken, in grief, plunged in grief, a prey to grief, in tears, steeped to the lips in misery, heart-stricken, heart-broken, heart-scalded, broken-hearted, in despair, the iron entered into our soul, haeret lateri lethalis arundo, one's heart bleeding, down, thou climbing sorrow, mirth cannot move a soul in agony, nessun maggior dolere che ricordarsi del tempo fel, sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier th, the Niobe of Nations.Painfulness
N painfulness, trouble, care, trial, affliction, infliction, blow, stroke, burden, load, curse, bitter pill, bitter draught, waters of bitterness, annoyance, grievance, nuisance, vexation, mortification, sickener, bore, bother, pother, hot water, sea of troubles, hornet's nest, plague, pest, cancer, ulcer, sting, thorn, canker, scorpion, dagger, scourge, carking care, canker worm of care, mishap, misfortune, desagrement, esclandre, rub, source of irritation, source of annoyance, wound, open sore, sore subject, skeleton in the closet, thorn in the flesh, thorn in one's side, where the shoe pinches, gall and wormwood, sorry sight, heavy news, provocation, affront, head and front of one's offending, infestation, molestation, malignity, causing pain, hurting, hurtful, painful, dolorific, dolorous, unpleasant, unpleasing, displeasing, disagreeable, unpalatable, bitter, distasteful, uninviting, unwelcome, undesirable, undesired, obnoxious, unacceptable, unpopular, thankless, unsatisfactory, untoward, unlucky, uncomfortable, distressing, afflicting, afflictive, joyless, cheerless, comfortless, dismal, disheartening, depressing, depressive, dreary, melancholy, grievous, piteous, woeful, rueful, mournful, deplorable, pitiable, lamentable, sad, affecting, touching, pathetic, irritating, provoking, stinging, annoying, aggravating, mortifying, galling, unaccommodating, invidious, vexatious, troublesome, tiresome, irksome, wearisome, plaguing, plaguy, awkward, importunate, teasing, pestering, bothering, harassing, worrying, tormenting, carking, intolerable, insufferable, insupportable, unbearable, unendurable, past bearing, not to be borne, not to be endured, more than flesh and blood can bear, enough to drive one mad, enough to provoke a saint, enough to make a parson swear, enough to gag a maggot, shocking, terrific, grim, appalling, crushing, dreadful, fearful, frightful, thrilling, tremendous, dire, heart-breaking, heart-rending, heart-wounding, heart-corroding, heart-sickening, harrowing, rending, odious, hateful, execrable, repulsive, repellent, abhorrent, horrid, horrible, horrific, horrifying, offensive, nauseous, nauseating, disgusting, sickening, revolting, nasty, loathsome, loathful, fulsome, vile, hideous, sharp, acute, sore, severe, grave, hard, harsh, cruel, biting, caustic, cutting, corroding, consuming, racking, excruciating, searching, grinding, grating, agonizing, envenomed, catheretic, pyrotic, ruinous, disastrous, calamitous, tragical, desolating, withering, burdensome, onerous, oppressive, cumbrous, cumbersome, painfully, with pain, deuced, Int, hinc illae lachrymae!, surgit amari aliquid, the place being too hot to hold one, the iron entering into the soul, he jests at scars that never felt a wound, I must be cruel only to be kind, what deep wounds ever closed without a scar?.For further exploring for "infliction" in Webster Dictionary Online