Definition

1. Noun:
   • A fatal epidemic disease, especially bubonic plague: A serious, widespread illness that causes many deaths.
   • An evil influence or idea that spreads destructively: Something harmful that corrupts and is difficult to eliminate.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The Black Death was a terrible pestilence that swept through Europe in the 14th century.
  • The novel describes a city ravaged by pestilence and famine.
  • Corruption is a moral pestilence that weakens the foundations of society.

Advanced Usage

• "A pestilence upon...": An archaic or literary curse wishing harm or disease upon someone or something.
  • "A pestilence upon both your houses!" (A famous line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, expressing a wish for disaster to strike the feuding families.)

Variants and Related Words

• Pestilent (adj): Causing disease or moral harm.
  • The swamp was a pestilent place, full of mosquitoes.
• Pestilential (adj): Relating to or resembling a pestilence; harmful or annoying.
  • The pestilential fumes from the factory polluted the air.

Synonyms

• Plague: A contagious bacterial disease; a cause of widespread trouble.
• Epidemic: A widespread occurrence of an infectious disease.
• Scourge: A person or thing that causes great trouble or suffering.

Related Phrases

• Pestilence and war: Often paired in literature and history to describe catastrophic events.
  • The period was marked by pestilence and war.

Related Idioms

• To spread like a pestilence: To propagate rapidly and harmfully.
  • The rumor spread through the town like a pestilence.

Noun

1. a pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of
   • racism is a pestilence at the heart of the nation
   • according to him, I was the canker in their midst
2. any epidemic disease with a high death rate
3. a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal