Noun: pestilence pe-stu-lun(t)s
- Any epidemic disease with a high death rate
"The town was ravaged by a pestilence";
- plague, pest
- A pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of
"racism is a pestilence at the heart of the nation";
- canker
- 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
"The Black Death pestilence devastated medieval Europe";
- plague, pest [archaic], pestis [rare]
Derived forms: pestilences
Type of: epidemic disease, influence
Encyclopedia: Pestilence