Dictionary

pestilence en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɛstɪlən(t)s/
• /ˈpɛstələn(t)s/ (US)
• /ˈpɛstlən(t)s/
• /ˈpɛstələn(t)s/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pestilentia (“plague”), from pestilens (“infected, unwholesome, noxious”); equivalent to pestilent + -ence.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.
   • The pestilence slew and slew, and ceased not by day or by night, and those who escaped from the pestilence were slain of the famine. 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
   • Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 91:5-6:
   • 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."
   • It was reserved for Christians to torture bread, the staff of life, bread for which children in whole districts wail, bread, the gift of pasture to the poor, bread, for want of which thousands of our fellow beings annually perish by famine; it was reserved for Christians to torture the material of bread by fire, to create a chemical and maddening poison, burning up the brain and brutalizing the soul, and producing evils to humanity, in comparison of which, war, pestilence, and famine, cease to be evils. 1831 July 15, “Of the Blood”, in Western Journal of Health, volume 4, number 1, L. B. Lincoln, page 38:
   • "Take it, Christian dogsǃ take the palaces, the gardens, the mosques, the abode of our fathers - take plague with them; pestilence is the enemy we fly; if she be your friend, hug her to your bosoms. The curse of Allah is on Stamboul, share ye her fateǃ" 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
   • The snowshoe-rabbits build up through the years until they reach a climax when they seem to be everywhere; then with dramatic suddenness their pestilence falls upon them. 1949, Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides:
2. (archaic, countable, uncountable) Anything harmful to morals or public order.

Forms

Relateds

pestilent · pest · virulence · pesticide

Synonyms

plague · murrain

Translations (50)

sv pest (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ga aicíd (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · la luēs (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · mi mate urutā (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · mk чу́ма (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · bg мор (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · mk мо́рија (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · cs mor (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · it pestilenza (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · pl zaraza (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · cmn 瘟疫 (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · de Seuche (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · eo pesto (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · fr peste (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · fi rutto (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · cmn 大札 (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ja 疫病 (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · es pestilencia (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · sv farsot (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ro pestilență (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · la pestis (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ga plá (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ca pestilència (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ota خستهلق (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · he מַגֵּפָה (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · mi urutā. (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · grc λοιμός (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ro ciumă (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · mk мор (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · el πανδημία (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ang wōl (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ru мор (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · fi kulkutauti (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ang mancwealm (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · gd plàigh (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · af pes (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · hi जनपदमारी (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · hi महामारी (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ru чума́ (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · el λοιμός (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · pt peste (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ka ჭირი (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · uga 𐎗𐎌𐎔 (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · da pest (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · hi वबा (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · hi ताऊन (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · ota طاعون (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · de Pest (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · el επιδημία (any highly contagious epidemic disease) · tr salgın (any highly contagious epidemic disease)