infest

[in-fest]

verb (used with object)

1. to live in or overrun to an unwanted degree or in a troublesome manner, especially as predatory animals or vermin do.

   I had a major problem with cockroaches infesting my kitchen.

   The emerald ash borer has already infested many of the local ash trees.

2. to be numerous in, as anything undesirable or troublesome.

   the cares that infest the day.

3. Archaic.,  to harass.

infest

/ ɪnˈfɛst /

verb

1. to inhabit or overrun in dangerously or unpleasantly large numbers

2. (of parasites such as lice) to invade and live on or in (a host)

Other Word Forms

• infester noun
• reinfest verb (used with object)
• infestation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of infest¹

First recorded in 1375–1425; from late Middle English, from Latin infestāre “to assail, molest,” from infestus “hostile”

Word History and Origins

Origin of infest¹

C15: from Latin infestāre to molest, from infestus hostile

Example Sentences

Within days the whole nursery had become infested.

Read more on Literature

Toynbee documented their movement to suburbs, with the cities becoming predictably poorer, “infested with slums.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Isra says she and her siblings were sometimes sleeping four to a room and that the places they were housed in were often infested with rats.

Read more on BBC

If that makes you a little sick, if the whole thing feels a little unclean, that’s only because the internet has become a nauseous, infested place.

Read more on Salon

The findings revealed that infested homes contained high amounts of endotoxins, with female cockroaches producing roughly twice as much as males.

Read more on Science Daily