WordWeb Online

1. Any unwanted and destructive insect or other animal that attacks food or crops or livestock etc.
   "he sprayed the garden to get rid of pests"; "many pests have developed resistance to the common pesticides"
    
2. 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
   - plague, pestilence, pestis
    
3. Any epidemic disease with a high death rate
   - plague, pestilence
    
4. A persistently annoying person
   - blighter [Brit, informal], cuss [informal], pesterer, gadfly

Derived forms: pests

Type of: animal, animate being, beast, brute, creature, epidemic disease, fauna, persecutor, tormenter, tormentor

Encyclopedia: Pest