plague
The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis.
Other meanings
An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but especially that caused by the above disease.
A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution.
“Ten Biblical plagues over Egypt, ranging from locusts to the death of the crown prince, finally forced Pharaoh to let Moses's people go.”
Synonyms
- pest
Related words
- beplague
- antiplague
- Australian plague locust
- avoid like the plague
- be at the plague
- bioplague
- bird plague
- Black Plague
- bubonic plague
- capacitor plague
- cattle plague
- fowl plague
Example sentences
Word history
From Latin "plāga" (blow, wound).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “plague” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.