scourge
a whip or lash, especially for the infliction of punishment or torture.
a person or thing that applies or administers punishment or severe criticism.
a cause of affliction or calamity: Disease and famine are scourges of humanity.
to whip with a scourge; lash.
to punish, chastise, or criticize severely.
Origin of scourge
1Other words for scourge
Other words from scourge
- scourger, noun
- scourg·ing·ly, adverb
- self-scourging, adjective
- un·scourged, adjective
- un·scourg·ing, adjective
Words Nearby scourge
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use scourge in a sentence
By 1900, smallpox was no longer quite as much of a scourge in the world’s richest countries.
Smallpox used to kill millions of people every year. Here’s how humans beat it. | Kelsey Piper | February 5, 2021 | VoxResearchers have known all along that vaccines can rapidly turn infectious diseases from scourges to bad memories.
The chart that shows how we’ll get back to normal | Niall Firth | December 11, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewOpponents of the industry say vacation rentals are the scourge of San Diego, destroying neighborhoods and taking away housing stock.
There’s a Vacation Rental Compromise on the Table — Take it | Matt Gardner | September 3, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoHe’d lost a close friend to the scourge—that friend had gone to the hospital for routine surgery and died of a superbug he’d acquired while there.
Tuberculosis has been a scourge, but fewer than 10% of people infected with it even get sick.
Our Genes May Explain Severity of COVID-19 and Other Infections | Monique Brouillette | July 27, 2020 | Quanta Magazine
The U.K. tabloids, as is their wont, have branded her “shameless,” “sordid,” and “the scourge of society.”
The X Factor of Sex Invades Britain: Rebecca More’s ‘Sex Tour’ Enrages UK Politicians | Marlow Stern | October 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAfter Ferguson, we all must renew our efforts to eliminate the scourge of racism from American life.
Another huge impetus behind the movement to legalize sex work is the current focus on ending the scourge of sex trafficking.
Settling over wilderness areas everywhere, like a deadly fog, is the scourge of our time: global warming.
The disease remains a global scourge despite rapid advances in providing insecticide nets and spraying homes, mostly with DDT.
Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue; neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.
The Ordinance of Covenanting | John CunninghamThe Iffluenza appears to become endemic here, but it has always been a scourge in the islands.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) | Robert Louis StevensonYet again, however, was their faith to be sorely tried by the terrible scourge—war.
Robert Moffat | David J. DeaneThus he is the scourge of every country he inhabits; and of the appearance of man or his weapons, he is fearless.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume VII (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de BuffonIf we compare these prices with those of 1670, we shall see that war had proved here as everywhere a great scourge.
A short history of Rhode Island | George Washington Greene
British Dictionary definitions for scourge
/ (skɜːdʒ) /
a person who harasses, punishes, or causes destruction
a means of inflicting punishment or suffering
a whip used for inflicting punishment or torture
to whip; flog
to punish severely
Origin of scourge
1Derived forms of scourge
- scourger, 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
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