Dictionary

pestiferous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˌpɛsˈtɪfəɹəs/ (Canada)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Mid 15th century, in sense “mischievous, pernicious”, from Latin pestifer (“bearing plague”), from pestis (“plague”) + -fer (“carrying”). By surface analysis, pesti- + -ferous (“bearing, carrying”).

Meanings

1. Containing organisms that cause contagious diseases.
   • and bears the body of our dear brother here departed to a hemmed-in churchyard, pestiferous and obscene, whence malignant diseases are communicated to the bodies of our dear brothers and sisters who have not departed... 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
   • Wherever there is a vacant space the authorities have allowed refugees to put up pestiferous shacks, which now flank in unbroken lines the country roads leading into Rangoon, the railway tracks, and the shores of the Royal Lake. 1952, Norman Lewis, Golden Earth:
   • In these solemn moments man discovers the germ of those vices, which like the Java tree shed a pestiferous vapour around--death is in the shade! 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC:
   • because he hath vouchsafed to preserue our nation from such fountains, from serpents and venemous wormes, & from al other pestiferous & contagious creatures. 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:
2. Annoying, vexatious.
   • and if any could have hanged his hindering and pestiferous council and set him free, he would have answered Joan's prayer and set her in the field. 1896, Mark Twain, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc:
   • GET RID OF THAT PESTIFEROUS HUNK OF JUNK! I CAN’T EVEN TAKE A NAP IN PEACE! 2016, Mau Heymans, Kirsten De Graaff, translated by Dwight Decker, “Late-Night Larceny”, in Donald Duck: Timeless Tales (Disney Comics), volume 2, San Diego, Calif.: IDW Publishing, →ISBN, page 151:
   • Lois rescues Clark from the pestiferous curly... 1938, Jerome Siegel, Joe Shuster, “Superman”, in Action Comics, 7, page 2:
   • No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness, / Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks, / As very infants prattle of thy pride. 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

Forms

Deriveds

pestiferously · pestiferousness

Relateds

pestilent · pest

Synonyms

pestilent (harboring disease, annoying)

Translations (21)

es pernicioso (annoying, vexatious) · bg тормозещ (annoying, vexatious) · fr pestilentiel (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · es pestífero (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · bg досаден (annoying, vexatious) · ro pestilențial (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · ro pestifer (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · es pestífero (annoying, vexatious) · bg заразен (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · ga aicídeach (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · ro pisălog (annoying, vexatious) · ru надое́дливый (annoying, vexatious) · ro plictisitor (annoying, vexatious) · is óheilnæmur (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · it pestifero (annoying, vexatious) · ru заразный (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · la pestiferus (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · ro sâcâitor (annoying, vexatious) · is sóttnæmur (containing organisms that cause contagious diseases) · it pestilenziale (annoying, vexatious) · es pesado (annoying, vexatious)