pestilence
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈpɛstɪləns/
- Specialized
:
peste bubónica
- To us, it is a child's disease, abner, but to the Hawaiians, who have developed no resistance at all, it is a deadly pestilence.
Examples
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More precisely, when he says, "I'll pour this pestilence into his ear" (2.3.330), he identifies his slander with the plague or personified death itself.
Academic text (2017) -
In the 14th century, Europe was ravaged by a deadly pestilence that claimed millions of lives.
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Men were free neither from war nor pestilence, nor any other thing that brings death.
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Men were free neither from war nor pestilence, nor any other thing that brings death.
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"Some shall die by pestilence, some by the plague..."
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There are many who say the plague was nothing but a pestilence that finally broke like the passing of a fever.
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Besides, it is our only avenue for alleviating the disease and pestilence that afflicts our own and other species.
Academic text (1993) -
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence.
Blog text (16) -
His resemblance to a rat makes his association with pestilence more pronounced: the rats he carries with him, in his coffins filled with the Transylvanian earth he needs for his diurnal rest, carry the plague everywhere he goes.
Academic text (1993) -
A scientific explanation linking rats and pestilence can even be found in Vincenzo Cartari's 1556 Le imagini de i dei de gli antichi.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
266
6.6
A very serious disease that spreads quickly and kills many people
11
6.7
A serious disease that spreads and causes fever and painful swollen glands
7
7.8
A disease that kills many people quickly, for example the plague
2
9.9
A serious infectious disease spread by flea bites from infected rats to people
A serious disease causing fever and painful swollen glands spread by fleas from rats
How Deadly
- Specialized
1
9.9
- Specialized
37
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
pestilence = pestilent (opaque) = pestil + ence
The morphological elements are Latin-derived and not productive in modern English; the specific relation to 'pest'/'plague' is not transparent to most learners.
Etymology
Pestilence comes from the Latin pestis, meaning 'plague', and is related to the English word pest for a harmful animal or bug. That's why the word was used for real plagues that spread from rats and fleas.