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Black Death

Black Death

7 6.7
A large outbreak of plague in Europe in the mid 1300s that killed millions
  • noun
  • /blæk dɛθ/
translation icon : Peste Negra
  • The Black Death was a natural scourge on humankind; Hiroshima and Nagasaki represent "man's inhumanity to man."

Billy died of the Black Death, I shouldn't call it that, and hovered like a winged horseman.

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Examples

  • There is ample evidence of population recovery following the Black Death, which is in line with our model predictions.

    Academic text (2018)
  • Today it's best known as the black death, or the plague.

  • The interesting thing about the Black Death is that, in its destructive wake,

    Blog text (11)
  • Another plague, known to history as the Black Death, swept Europe in the 14th century, killing perhaps a third of the continent's population.

    Academic text (2011)
  • The Black Death swept through Europe in the fourteenth century, killing one-third of the total population.

    Academic text (2000)
  • The Black Death, a huge wave of epidemics of bubonic plague, spread across Europe during 1347-1353 CE.

    Academic text (2013)
  • The Black Death devastated communities across Europe in the 14th century, leading to a significant decline in the population.

  • Historians estimate that the Black Death resulted in the deaths of approximately 25 million people throughout Europe.

  • During the Black Death, many towns were left deserted as the epidemic claimed countless lives across the continent.

Synonyms

plague
vsBlack Death
266 6.6

A very serious disease that spreads quickly and kills many people

is that specific mid-14th European outbreak rather than the general disease
pestilence
vsBlack Death
  • Literature
11 9.8

A very large disease outbreak that kills many people

is one historic outbreak not the general term for deadly epidemics
bubonic plague
vsBlack Death
  • Specialized
11 6.7

A serious disease that spreads and causes fever and painful swollen glands

is the single mid-14th century epidemic rather than the disease itself
pest
vsBlack Death
  • Archaic
7 7.8

A disease that kills many people quickly, for example the plague

is the particular mid-14th European outbreak rather than any epidemic
Black Plague
vsBlack Death
4 6.4

A severe disease in the Middle Ages that spread across Europe and killed millions

is the same event called by a different historical name

Surface Forms

Black Death singular
Black Deaths plural

Morphology

Black + death

Although the constituents 'black' and 'death' are individually known, the phrase is a proper-name referring to a specific historical epidemic (the 14th-century bubonic plague), which a B1 learner cannot reliably infer from the words alone. 'Death' is transparent but 'black' here is metaphorical and the precise historical/medical reference is unpredictable without prior knowledge, so the overall expression is not compositionally derivable.

Etymology

Black Death may come from the dark, swollen lumps that appeared on people and made their skin look black, and from the many deaths the disease caused. So the name came to mean that terrible plague which killed millions.