pestilence
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French, from pestilencia (“plague”), from pestilens (“infected, unwholesome, noxious”); see pestilent.
[edit] Noun
pestilence (plural pestilences)
- Any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.
- 1949 - Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart Earth Abides
- 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
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations
any highly contagious epidemic disease
[edit] External links
- pestilence in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- pestilence in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
