pest

¹

[pest]

noun

1. an annoying or troublesome person, animal, or thing; nuisance.

   Synonyms: annoyance

2. an insect or other small animal that harms or destroys garden plants, trees, etc.

3. a deadly epidemic disease, especially a plague; pestilence.

   Synonyms: epidemic, scourge, pandemic

Pest

²

[pest, pesht]

noun

1. Budapest

pest

/ pɛst /

noun

1. a person or thing that annoys, esp by imposing itself when it is not wanted; nuisance

2. 1. any organism that damages crops, injures or irritates livestock or man, or reduces the fertility of land

   2. ( as modifier )

      pest control

3. rare,  an epidemic disease or pestilence

Other Word Forms

• de-pest verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of pest¹

First recorded in 1545–55, pest is from the Latin word pestis plague

Word History and Origins

Origin of pest¹

C16: from Latin pestis plague, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

And their ability to consistently make contact against even the most ferocious pitchers has turned them into the ultimate pests.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Ms Bayley explains because there are no date plantations outside, they do not have any pests and diseases of date palms.

Read more on BBC

Blasting cockroaches - with blowtorches or homemade flamethrowers - have emerged as a novel way of getting rid of house pests, made popular by videos on social media.

Read more on BBC

“Where no one will be called a bug or a pest to be crushed just because they see the world differently.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It is increasingly used for biological pest control in agriculture, with researchers around the world studying how to further drive its effectiveness as a natural pesticide.

Read more on Science Daily

Related Words

• blight 
• bug 
• contagion 
• epidemic 
• infection 
• plague 
• scourge 
• virus