blight BLYTE noun verb WS #6

a plant disease causing rapid discoloration, wilting, and death; anything that spoils, damages, or destroys

1. The gang is a blight on our community.
2. The abandoned factory is a blight on the neighborhood.
3. Urban blight has affected many inner-city areas.
4. Potato blight caused a great famine in Ireland in the mid-1800s.
5. The disease was a blight that devastated the entire crop.

to spoil, damage, or destroy; to have a severe detrimental effect on

1. Frost blighted the crops.
2. The scandal blighted his promising career.
3. Poverty has blighted the lives of many in the region.
4. Corruption blighted the government's efforts at reform.
5. Lack of money blighted his plans for the future.