plague

American  

[pleyg] / pleɪg /

noun

1. an epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.

2. 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.

3. any widespread affliction, calamity, or evil, especially one regarded as a direct punishment by God.

   a plague of war and desolation.

4. any cause of trouble, annoyance, or vexation.

   Uninvited guests are a plague.

   Synonyms:

   torment, bother, nuisance

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verb (used with object)

plagued, plaguing

1. to trouble, annoy, or torment in any manner.

   The question of his future plagues him with doubt.

2. to annoy, bother, or pester.

   Ants plagued the picnickers.

   Synonyms:

   disturb, irritate, badger, worry, fret, hector, harry, vex, harass

3. to smite with a plague, pestilence, death, etc.; scourge.

   those whom the gods had plagued.

4. to infect with a plague; cause an epidemic in or among.

   diseases that still plague the natives of Ethiopia.

5. to afflict with any evil.

   He was plagued by allergies all his life.

plague British  

/ pleɪɡ /

noun

1. any widespread and usually highly contagious disease with a high fatality rate

2. an infectious disease of rodents, esp rats, transmitted to man by the bite of the rat flea ( Xenopsylla cheopis )

3. See bubonic plague

4. something that afflicts or harasses

5. informal an annoyance or nuisance

6. a pestilence, affliction, or calamity on a large scale, esp when regarded as sent by God

7. archaic used to express annoyance, disgust, etc

   a plague on you

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verb

1. to afflict or harass

2. to bring down a plague upon

3. informal to annoy

plague Scientific  

/ plāg /

1. Any of various highly infectious, usually fatal epidemic diseases.

2. An often fatal disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted to humans usually by fleas that have bitten infected rats or other rodents.

3. ◆ 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.

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plague Cultural  

1. A highly contagious disease, such as bubonic plague, that spreads quickly throughout a population and causes widespread sickness and death.

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plague Idioms  

1. see avoid like the plague.

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Related Words

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

• antiplague noun
• plaguer noun
• unplagued adjective

Etymology

Origin of plague

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English plage, from Latin plāga “stripe, wound,” Late Latin: “pestilence”

Example Sentences

The Artemis program has been plagued by delays and massive cost overruns.

From Barron's

The peak popularity of the splitter coincided with the initial phase of the elbow-injury epidemic that has plagued the sport for decades.

From The Wall Street Journal

“Lexie, why don’t you give it a bit more thought. Maybe next time we meet, you’ll have identified a negative thought that plagues you.”

From Literature

Still, he couldn’t resist the comforts of the warm beverage, and, plagued by the insatiable thirst of his displaced soul, he took a sip.

From Literature

The central region, one of the country's key centres of agricultural production, has already sustained major livestock losses over the past three years owing to floods and sheep plague.

From Barron's

Related Words

• contagion
• curse
• epidemic
• infection
• infestation
• influenza
• invasion
• outbreak
• pandemic
• scourge