pestilence
Americannoun
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a deadly or virulent epidemic disease.
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something that is considered harmful, destructive, or evil.
noun
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any epidemic outbreak of a deadly and highly infectious disease, such as the plague
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such a disease
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an evil influence or idea
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pestilence
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin pestilentia, from pestilent-, stem of pestilēns “unhealthy, noxious” ( see pestilent) + -ia -y 3 ( def. )
Explanation
Pestilence means a deadly and overwhelming disease that affects an entire community. The Black Plague, a disease that killed over thirty percent of Europe's population, was certainly a pestilence. Pestilence is also one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation (which is part of The Bible). When pestilence rides into town, you want to be somewhere far, far away. Whereas a person gets the flu, a nation experiences a pestilence. A disease that causes widespread crop damage or animal deaths can also be called a pestilence.
Vocabulary lists containing pestilence
"The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe
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Much Ado About Nothing
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Twelfth Night
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The plague — aka the Black Death, aka the Great Pestilence — is rarely contracted today, yet it recently infected a South Lake Tahoe resident.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2025
The likelihood of dying from the Great Pestilence was highest amongst those who already faced significant hardship, including exposure to famines that hit England during this time.
From BBC • Nov. 21, 2023
Called “The Conquest of Pestilence in New York City,” it showed how strides in public health eventually quelled the epidemics of the 19th century.
From New York Times • Apr. 7, 2023
Week 1395, a ‘plus-one’ to something known by a number The Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Death, Pestilence, and Zeppo.
From Washington Post • Jan. 21, 2021
The Party shall continue unabated, in full festival Mode, for some few weeks thereafter, or until the belittled Pestilence has run its course through the Assembled.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
