pestilential
[pes-tl-en-shuh l]
- producing or tending to produce pestilence.
- pertaining to or of the nature of pestilence, especially bubonic plague.
- pernicious; harmful.
- annoyingly troublesome.
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Origin of pestilential
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pestilential
Contemporary Examples
I long for the day I no longer have to think about this pestilential little locust.
When switched off to save supply, the result was pestilential odor.
Historical Examples
Into its profound and pestilential depths, indeed, she can see.
The chief characteristic of Fuzby was a pestilential spirit of gossip.
St. Winifred'sFrederic W. Farrar
Yet pestilential as is the clime, the scenery is very beautiful.
Peter the WhalerW.H.G. Kingston
But they were filled by the pestilential dead, and I passed by without exploring them.
The Scarlet PlagueJack London
We got away from the pestilential Swamp and that poisonous ground.
Andersonville, Volume 3John McElroy
pestilential
- dangerous or troublesome; harmful or annoying
- of, causing, or resembling pestilence
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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 pestilential
adj.
late 14c., from Medieval Latin pestilentialis, from Latin pestilentia "plague" (see pestilence). Related: Pestilentially.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
pestilential
(pĕs′tə-lĕn′shəl)- Of, relating to, or tending to produce a pestilence.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.