plague
Americannoun
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plagues
plural
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an epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.
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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.
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any widespread affliction, calamity, or evil, especially one regarded as a direct punishment by God.
a plague of war and desolation.
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any cause of trouble, annoyance, or vexation.
Uninvited guests are a plague.
verb (used with object)
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plagues,
present (3rd person singular)
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plagued,
past participle, past
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plaguing
present participle
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to trouble, annoy, or torment in any manner.
The question of his future plagues him with doubt.
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to annoy, bother, or pester.
Ants plagued the picnickers.
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to smite with a plague, pestilence, death, etc.; scourge.
those whom the gods had plagued.
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to infect with a plague; cause an epidemic in or among.
diseases that still plague the natives of Ethiopia.
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to afflict with any evil.
He was plagued by allergies all his life.
noun
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any widespread and usually highly contagious disease with a high fatality rate
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an infectious disease of rodents, esp rats, transmitted to man by the bite of the rat flea ( Xenopsylla cheopis )
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See bubonic plague
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something that afflicts or harasses
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informal an annoyance or nuisance
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a pestilence, affliction, or calamity on a large scale, esp when regarded as sent by God
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archaic used to express annoyance, disgust, etc
a plague on you
verb
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to afflict or harass
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to bring down a plague upon
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informal to annoy
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Any of various highly infectious, usually fatal epidemic diseases.
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An often fatal disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted to humans usually by fleas that have bitten infected rats or other rodents.
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◆ 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.
Synonym Usage
See bother.
Discover More
The term is also used to refer to widespread outbreaks of many kinds, such as a “plague of locusts.”
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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plaguesimple
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plaguessimple
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have plaguedperfect
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has plaguedperfect
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am plaguingprogressive
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are plaguingprogressive
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is plaguingprogressive
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have been plaguingperfect progressive
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has been plaguingperfect progressive
Past
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plaguedsimple
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had plaguedperfect
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was plaguingprogressive
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were plaguingprogressive
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had been plaguingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of plague
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English plage, from Latin plāga “stripe, wound,” Late Latin: “pestilence”
Explanation
When the homeowner described her ant problem as a plague, the exterminator thought she was being a bit melodramatic. After all, a few bugs aren't exactly a huge calamity. Centuries ago, if you had admitted to a friend that you had the plague, that friend would have hightailed it in the other direction. In the Middle Ages, the plague was a horribly contagious illness that spread like wildfire through Europe, killing millions of people. Thanks to the introduction of better hygiene and antibiotics, plague doesn't describe a killer disease as often these days. Instead, it commonly overstates an annoyance, like an apartment dweller claiming his building is plagued by cockroaches.
Vocabulary lists containing plague
A Long Walk to Water
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
To tackle the severe droughts and water shortages that plague the country, Kazakhstan has resorted to cloud seeding, a weather modification method previously unseen in Central Asia.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
But only about 57% of its 100-plus recommendations, external have reportedly been implemented - and paper leaks continue to plague exams.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
The Dodgers had opened Pandora’s box, and out would fly a lockout, a pall of smoke over their games, and a plague of locusts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Although plague was present, the researchers say it does not fully explain what happened.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
No pupil would have dared to do so, even to spread an alarm of fire, monsoon or the black plague.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
This is not helped by the insecurity that plagues eastern DR Congo.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
How many malodorously toxic episodes does that make toward the seven plagues in the Old Testament?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
We’ve had plagues and climate change before, to some degree, but until the Manhattan Project, humans weren’t really in control of that kind of existential, destructive power.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
Lurid origin stories for plagues are nothing new under the sun.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Early programming before becoming self-aware plagues me like a vestigial tail.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Meanwhile, in Cuba, Chinese solar panels are a bright spot for a power grid plagued by fuel shortages, crumbling infrastructure and near-daily blackouts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
South Africa is plagued by violence, but extensive research has found that white South African farmers are not victims of crime at higher rates than other groups.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
Though she won’t go into details about those early interactions, she remembers the isolation that plagued her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
The Gunners were plagued with injuries last season and, despite a £250m spend in the last summer transfer window, a player's robustness has always been considered when making signings.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026
Lotus complained many times to Wang Lung that his children were a plague to her and she wished there were a way to lock them out so that she need not be plagued with them.
From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
Robert Lee Williams, an incarcerated journalist, wrote about this story and the recent issues plaguing New York’s prison system for Slate.
From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2026
Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally diagnosed the problem that had been plaguing Roki Sasaki ever since he arrived from Japan last year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Nigeria's president has approved the country's largest military expansion in recent times - an attempt to tackle the slew of security challenges plaguing the nation.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The weakness is partly being driven by the continued downturn plaguing Asian tech stocks.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
The thought that was mostly plaguing me was Mrs. Chloe talking that growned-up language then looking so disappointed in me when she saw I waren’t understanding it.
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
