plague
/pleig/
Definition
Noun:
- A widespread and often fatal epidemic disease: A highly infectious, serious disease that spreads rapidly through a population, causing many deaths. Historically, this specifically refers to bubonic plague.
- A large-scale calamity or disaster: Any event causing great trouble, suffering, or destruction, often perceived as a divine punishment.
- A persistent and severe annoyance or nuisance: A person, thing, or situation that causes continual trouble or irritation.
- A large, destructive swarm of insects or animals: A vast, overwhelming number of pests that cause damage.
Verb:
- To cause continual trouble, distress, or annoyance: To pester, harass, or bother someone persistently.
- To afflict with a plague or serious trouble: To cause to suffer from a widespread disease or a great calamity.
Examples
Noun:
- The Black Death was a devastating plague in the 14th century.
- The region faced a plague of locusts that destroyed the crops.
- That constant noise is a real plague.
Verb:
- Reporters plagued the celebrity with questions about his personal life.
- Financial worries have plagued the company for years.
Advanced Usage
"Avoid like the plague": To stay far away from someone or something undesirable.
- After he betrayed my trust, I avoid him like the plague.
"A plague on both your houses": An expression of frustration or anger directed at two opposing parties, wishing misfortune upon them both. (From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet).
- I'm tired of their endless arguing—a plague on both their houses!
Variants and Related Words
Plaguey / Plaguy (adj., archaic): Annoying, troublesome.
- He has a plaguy habit of interrupting.
Plaguelike (adj.): Resembling or characteristic of a plague.
Synonyms
- Noun (disease): Pestilence, epidemic, pandemic.
- Noun (annoyance): Nuisance, pest, bother, scourge.
- Verb (annoy): Pester, harass, bedevil, torment, vex.
Related Phrasal Verbs
(Note: "Plague" is not commonly used in standard phrasal verb constructions. The verb itself carries the meaning of persistent trouble.) - Plague with: To trouble someone persistently by means of something. - He plagued his assistant with endless requests for data.
Related Idioms
- What a plague!: An exclamation of annoyance (somewhat archaic).
- What a plague! I've locked my keys in the car again.
Noun
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an annoyance
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those children are a damn plague
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any large scale calamity (especially when thought to be sent by God)
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a swarm of insects that attack plants
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a plague of grasshoppers
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any epidemic disease with a high death rate
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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
Verb
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annoy continually or chronically
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He is known to harry his staff when he is overworked
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This man harasses his female co-workers
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cause to suffer a blight
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Too much rain may blight the garden with mold
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