pestilence

[ pes-tl-uh ns ]

/ ˈpɛs tl əns /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pestilence ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a deadly or virulent epidemic disease.

bubonic plague.

something that is considered harmful, destructive, or evil.

Nearby words

Origin of pestilence

1275–1325; Middle English < Middle French < Latin pestilentia. See pestilent, -ence

Related formsan·ti·pes·ti·lence, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pestilence

This notion of pestilence as a “great equalizer” has remained in vogue ever since plague pop culture began.
Ebola Rages in West Africa, Reigniting Humanity’s Oldest Fear: The Plague|Scott Bixby|August 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In dramatic lore their names are Death, Destruction, Pestilence, and Famine.
New York City Is the Storied Football Capital of the USA|Ben Jacobs|January 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the meantime, I do kind of hope he wins Iowa, so that he can spread some of that pestilence around the GOP.
Ron Paul: Batty Old Reactionary for President|Michael Tomasky|December 14, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The coded “proofs” are everywhere: Floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and pestilence.
Left Behind Author Tim LaHaye on the Rapture|Marlow Stern|May 19, 2011|DAILY BEAST

If you have dead bodies, pestilence, lice, with a 90 temperature--mosquitoes, flies--then you have serious problems.
Haiti's Grisly Problem|Cyril Wecht|January 19, 2010|DAILY BEAST
All kinds of calamities overspread the earth and decimated the race,--war, pestilence, and famine.
Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV|John Lord
They fled from religious and political persecution as from a pestilence.
Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution|L. Carroll Judson
Want and pestilence follow in the wake of massacre, and cause awful misery.
The Radicalism of Shelley and Its Sources|Daniel J. MacDonald
But the returning army brought with it a pestilence, which spread devastation throughout the West.
History of Rome from the Earliest times down to 476 AD|Robert F. Pennell
The town of Malacca is freed from the pestilence at the arrival of the holy body.
The Works of John Dryden, Volume XVI. (of 18)|John Dryden

British Dictionary definitions for pestilence

pestilence

/ (ˈpɛstɪləns) /

noun

any epidemic outbreak of a deadly and highly infectious disease, such as the plague
such a disease

an evil influence or idea

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pestilence

pestilence

c.1300, from Old French pestilence "plague, epidemic" (12c.) and directly from Latin pestilentia "a plague, an unwholesome atmosphere," noun of condition from pestilentem (nominative pestilens) "infected, unwholesome, noxious," from pestis "deadly disease, plague" (see pest).

Medicine definitions for pestilence

pestilence

[ pĕs′tə-ləns ]

n.

A usually fatal epidemic disease, especially bubonic plague.

An epidemic of such a disease.

pestilence

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of pestilence

Examples from the Web for pestilence

pestilence

noun

pestilence

pestilence

n.