An affliction is something that causes persistent pain, suffering, or distress. When someone experiences a serious illness, injury, or hardship that won't quickly go away, we call it an affliction. A student with chronic headaches deals with a physical affliction. A family struggling through years of financial hardship faces an economic affliction.

The word carries weight: it's not used for minor annoyances like a scraped knee or a bad day. Afflictions are serious problems that test someone's strength and endurance over time. In historical writings, you might read about afflictions like plagues, famines, or devastating wars that troubled entire populations.

Notice that affliction emphasizes the suffering itself rather than its cause. A disease is the cause; the pain and limitation it brings are the affliction. The word appears often in older literature and religious texts, where characters endure afflictions that challenge their resolve.