as in to impose
to cause someone to accept or experience something unwanted
The criminal inflicted a lifetime of distress on his unsuspecting victims.
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Recent Examples of inflict
Boston finally inflicted some damage on Sale in the seventh when Refsnyder took his former teammate deep for a solo home run, making it 2-1, but a third mistake on the base paths kept the Red Sox from knocking Sale out.
—
Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 17 May 2025
Cuts in any of these areas could leave many state residents in desperate straits and inflict anguish on those who are worried about drastic cuts in environmental protection and public safety.
—Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 16 May 2025
Matar will also concurrently serve a seven-year sentence for his conviction on an assault charge, related to injuries inflicted on Ralph Henry Reese.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 16 May 2025
Kain said that the intentions revealed during interviews were to inflict mass casualties at Evergreen Middle School and to murder one set of parents before carrying out the school assault.
—Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for inflict
Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 17 May 2025
Cuts in any of these areas could leave many state residents in desperate straits and inflict anguish on those who are worried about drastic cuts in environmental protection and public safety.
—Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 16 May 2025
Matar will also concurrently serve a seven-year sentence for his conviction on an assault charge, related to injuries inflicted on Ralph Henry Reese.
—Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 16 May 2025
Kain said that the intentions revealed during interviews were to inflict mass casualties at Evergreen Middle School and to murder one set of parents before carrying out the school assault.
—Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for inflict
Recent Examples of Synonyms for inflict
Verb
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After deliberating for parts of three days during the punishment phase of the trial, some jurors told the Tribune the decision to impose the death penalty had been a difficult one.—
Kori Rumore,
Chicago Tribune,
28 May 2025
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In that case, West Virginia challenged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s authority to impose regulations to effectively control the state's energy policy through the Clean Power Plan.—
Zoltan Istvan,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 May 2025
Verb
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Ronaldo’s post on social media on Monday, when Al Nassr played the final match of their season, then created more conversation.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
28 May 2025
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Defense created easy offense and in the halfcourt, the ball skipped around.—
Fiifi Frimpong,
New York Daily News,
28 May 2025
Verb
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That gives you a puncher’s chance against a team that runs on makes and misses and forces defensive miscues by sheer virtue of its pace of play.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
30 May 2025
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Set in the winter of 1591, the play unfolds across three clandestine meetings where the rival playwrights are forced into creative collaboration amid a climate of conspiracy and paranoia.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
30 May 2025
Verb
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The primary, Sam Rashid, is a demanding man from Tampa who is bringing his entire family on vacation, including two adorable four-year-olds.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
3 June 2025
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Kimi Antonelli steadily brought home points and consistently ran in the middle of the top 10 for a majority of the opening slate (aside from being point-less in Bahrain).—
Madeline Coleman,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Inflict.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/inflict. Accessed 5 Jun. 2025.
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