Nonafflicted

Nonafflicted is an adjective used to describe a person, group, or condition that is not affected by illness, injury, distress, or misfortune. In medical or descriptive contexts, it can refer to someone who does not exhibit symptoms or who has been spared a particular affliction. In everyday language, it often serves as a contrast to “the afflicted.”

Etymology and usage history: The term combines the prefix non- with the word afflicted, which derives from Latin afflictus, meaning “struck” or “troubled.” English usage dates to the early modern period, and today nonafflicted appears most often in formal, literary, or historical texts. In modern colloquial speech, more common phrases such as healthy, uninjured, or unaffected are typically preferred for clarity.

Usage considerations: Because affliction carries medical as well as emotional and moral connotations, nonafflicted can be ambiguous. It may imply absence of disease, lack of hardship, or exemption from suffering, depending on context. When precision is important, it is preferable to use specific terms like disease-free, asymptomatic, healthy, or unaffected, rather than relying on nonafflicted. In scholarly writing, clarity about what is “nonafflicted”—physically, mentally, or socially—helps avoid misinterpretation.

See also: Afflicted; Affliction; Healthy; Unaffected; Disease-free; Asymptomatic.