inflict

«inflict» in Mova's school dictionary: To inflict something bad, like pain, harm, damage or… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

verb (inflict, inflicts, inflicted, inflicting)

meaning for a pupil

1) To inflict something bad, like pain, harm, damage or punishment, is to make someone or something suffer it. tree →

2) (humorous) To inflict something on someone is to make them put up with something unwanted, like bad singing. tree →

sense in the lessons

A formal word in news, history and safety: storms inflict damage, armies inflict defeats, people must not inflict pain on animals. It tells the reader who caused the harm. Phrases: inflict damage on, inflict pain on, inflict a defeat, self-inflicted.

examples

• The storm inflicted serious damage on the town. tree →
• It is cruel to inflict pain on animals. tree →
• The team inflicted a heavy defeat on their rivals. tree →
• The punishment inflicted on the thief was a big fine. tree →
• Dad inflicted his terrible jokes on us all through dinner. tree →
• The wound was self-inflicted — he cut himself by accident. tree →
• The hail inflicted damage on the cars. tree →
• Then there was the dancer, who inflicted the wound which has caused me to be here now; she was very violent! tree →

note

Always «inflict something on/upon someone». Regular verb: inflicted. Noun: infliction. Do not confuse with «afflict» (to make someone suffer; the illness afflicts the person, but the person inflicts harm on someone).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «inflict» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.