Passive voice using the preposition “with” instead of “by”

wiktionary.org offers

Verb smite: 6. (figuratively, now only in passive) To strike with love
or infatuation.

Bob was smitten with Laura from the first time he saw
her
.

I wonder whether this smitten is rather an adjective at least syntactically

Answer

smitten

adjective… deeply affected with or struck by strong feelings of attraction, affection, or infatuation

Smite…smote…smitten …
It’s an old-fashioned word that most modern English users encounter only in literature, and especially in older translations of the Bible, such as the King James Version:

Merriam Webster

adjective…having suddenly started to like or love something or someone very much

Cambridge online

And Collins

I would tend towards considering it adjectival. The original sense of the word as active verb has lost currency, and mainly seen in KJV Bible and other texts of the time. This looks like it has evolved into a simple adjective + preposition collocation to me.

Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : GJC , Answer Author : Cascabel_StandWithUkraine

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