Pestilence
//ˈpɛstələn(t)s// name, noun
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating. countable, uncountable
"1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVII, Chapter iii, leaf 347r and hit was in the realme of Logrys and soo bifelle grete pestylence & grete harme to both Realmes "And it was in the realm of Logris; and so befell great pestilence and great harm to both realms.""
- 2 a pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of wordnet
- 3 Anything harmful to morals or public order. archaic, countable, uncountable
- 4 any epidemic disease with a high death rate wordnet
- 5 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 wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 The personification of pestilence, often depicted riding a white horse.
Example
More examples"There is one rule that works in every calamity. Be it pestilence, war, or famine, the rich get richer and poor get poorer. The poor even help arrange it."
Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pestilentia (“plague”), from pestilens (“infected, unwholesome, noxious”); equivalent to pestilent + -ence.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.