'Pestilence' definitions:
Definition of 'pestilence'
(from WordNet)
noun
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 [syn: plague, pestilence, pest, pestis]
noun
noun
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" [syn: pestilence, canker]
Definition of 'Pestilence'
From: GCIDE
- Pestilence \Pes"ti*lence\, n. [F. pestilence, L. pestilentia. See Pestilent.]
- 1. Specifically, the disease known as the plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating. [1913 Webster]
- The pestilence that walketh in darkness. --Ps. xci. 6. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers. [1913 Webster]
- I'll pour this pestilence into his ear. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Pestilence weed (Bot.), the butterbur coltsfoot ({Petasites vulgaris}), so called because formerly considered a remedy for the plague. --Dr. Prior. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'pestilence'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- affliction,
- ambulatory plague,
- bane,
- Black Death,
- black death,
- black plague,
- blight,
- bubonic plague,
- bugbear,
- burden,
- calamity,
- cancer,
- canker,
- cellulocutaneous plague,
- crushing burden,
- curse,
- death,
- defervescing plague,
- destruction,
- disease,
- epidemic,
- epiphytotic,
- epizootic,
- evil,
- glandular plague,
- grievance,
- harm,
- hemorrhagic plague,
- infliction,
- larval plague,
- murrain,
- nemesis,
- open wound,
- pandemia,
- pandemic,
- pest,
- pesthole,
- plague,
- plague spot,
- pneumonic plague,
- premonitory plague,
- running sore,
- scourge,
- septicemic plague,
- siderating plague,
- thorn,
- torment,
- tuberculosis,
- vexation,
- visitation,
- white plague,
- woe