plague
an epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.
an infectious, epidemic disease caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, characterized by fever, chills, and prostration, transmitted to humans from rats by means of the bites of fleas.: Compare bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, septicemic plague.
any widespread affliction, calamity, or evil, especially one regarded as a direct punishment by God: a plague of war and desolation.
any cause of trouble, annoyance, or vexation: Uninvited guests are a plague.
to trouble, annoy, or torment in any manner: The question of his future plagues him with doubt.
to annoy, bother, or pester: Ants plagued the picnickers.
to smite with a plague, pestilence, death, etc.; scourge: those whom the gods had plagued.
to infect with a plague; cause an epidemic in or among: diseases that still plague the natives of Ethiopia.
to afflict with any evil: He was plagued by allergies all his life.
Origin of plague
1synonym study For plague
Other words for plague
Other words from plague
- plaguer, noun
- an·ti·plague, noun, adjective
- un·plagued, adjective
Words that may be confused with plague
- plague , plaque
Words Nearby plague
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use plague in a sentence
How the 2021 Sundance Film Festival — and many of its films — reflected life in a time of plague.
4 new movies that explore — or predict — a year dominated by a pandemic | Alissa Wilkinson | February 5, 2021 | VoxThe crown used the information to gauge the toll of the plague on its largest city and the relative safety of conducting royal business within city limits.
Covid-19 dashboards are vital, yet flawed, sources of public information | Jacqueline Wernimont | January 26, 2021 | Washington PostThroughout human history, we have been subjected to wave after wave of viral and bacterial plagues.
mRNA Technology Gave Us the First COVID-19 Vaccines. It Could Also Upend the Drug Industry | Walter Isaacson | January 11, 2021 | TimeIt’s unclear how the plague bacterium first reached Siberia or whether it caused widespread infections and death, Götherström says.
Reading Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save in the year of the plague.
The world’s problems overwhelmed me. This book empowered me. | Kelsey Piper | December 11, 2020 | Vox
Similar stories plague many parts of Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Asia.
Promoting Girls’ Education Isn’t Enough: Malala Can Do More | Paula Kweskin | December 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhy is violence against women central to so many of the conflicts that plague the planet today?
Spread happens easily, however, and epidemics are propagated when the third form of plague occurs: pneumonia plague.
Bubonic Plague Is Back (but It Never Really Left) | Kent Sepkowitz | November 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs I described in an article over the summer when the fatal case in China was diagnosed, plague has three distinct clinical forms.
Bubonic Plague Is Back (but It Never Really Left) | Kent Sepkowitz | November 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe plague made a brief appearance in China earlier this year and continues in the U.S. with a few cases annually.
Bubonic Plague Is Back (but It Never Really Left) | Kent Sepkowitz | November 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe great plague of this and the subsequent year broke out at St. Giles, London.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellGarnache need not plague himself with vexation that his rash temper alone had wrought his ruin now.
St. Martin's Summer | Rafael SabatiniA man was whipped through London for going to court when his house was infected by plague.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellThe plague at Smyrna committed great ravages; about 300 died daily for some time.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellThose little Babcocks are sure to come, invited or not, and as surely would plague the life out of her.
Dorothy at Skyrie | Evelyn Raymond
British Dictionary definitions for plague
/ (pleɪɡ) /
any widespread and usually highly contagious disease with a high fatality rate
an infectious disease of rodents, esp rats, transmitted to man by the bite of the rat flea (Xenopsylla cheopis)
See bubonic plague
something that afflicts or harasses
informal an annoyance or nuisance
a pestilence, affliction, or calamity on a large scale, esp when regarded as sent by God
archaic used to express annoyance, disgust, etc: a plague on you
to afflict or harass
to bring down a plague upon
informal to annoy
Origin of plague
1Derived forms of plague
- plaguer, noun
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
Scientific definitions for plague
[ plāg ]
Any of various highly infectious, usually fatal epidemic diseases.
An often fatal disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted to humans usually by fleas that have bitten infected rats or other rodents.♦ Bubonic plague, the most common type, is characterized by the tender, swollen lymph nodes called buboes, fever, clotting abnormalities of the blood, and tissue necrosis. An epidemic of bubonic plague in fourteenth-century Europe and Asia was known as the Black Death.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for plague
[ (playg) ]
A highly contagious disease, such as bubonic plague, that spreads quickly throughout a population and causes widespread sickness and death.
Notes for plague
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with plague
see avoid like the plague.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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