plague

/pleɪg/

/pleɪg/

Other forms: plagued; plagues; plaguing

When the homeowner described her ant problem as a plague, the exterminator thought she was being a bit melodramatic. After all, a few bugs aren't exactly a huge calamity.

Centuries ago, if you had admitted to a friend that you had the plague, that friend would have hightailed it in the other direction. In the Middle Ages, the plague was a horribly contagious illness that spread like wildfire through Europe, killing millions of people. Thanks to the introduction of better hygiene and antibiotics, plague doesn't describe a killer disease as often these days. Instead, it commonly overstates an annoyance, like an apartment dweller claiming his building is plagued by cockroaches.

Definitions of plague

1. noun

   any large-scale calamity (especially when thought to be sent by God)
   type of:

   calamity, cataclysm, catastrophe, disaster, tragedy

   an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
2. noun

   any epidemic disease with a high death rate
   synonyms: pest, pestilence

   type of:

   epidemic disease

   any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people
3. noun

   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
   synonyms: pest, pestilence, pestis

   types:

   bubonic plague, glandular plague, pestis bubonica

   the most common form of the plague in humans; characterized by chills, prostration, delirium and the formation of buboes in the armpits and groin; does not spread from person to person

   plague pneumonia, pneumonic plague, pulmonic plague

   a rapidly progressive and frequently fatal form of the plague that can spread through the air from person to person; characterized by lung involvement with chill, bloody expectoration and high fever

   septicemic plague

   an especially dangerous and generally fatal form of the plague in which infecting organisms invade the bloodstream; does not spread from person to person

   ambulant plague, ambulatory plague, pestis ambulans

   a mild form of bubonic plague

   Black Death, Black Plague

   the epidemic form of bubonic plague experienced during the Middle Ages when it killed nearly half the people of western Europe

   type of:

   epidemic disease

   any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people
4. noun

   a swarm of insects that attack plants
   “a plague of grasshoppers”

   synonyms: infestation

   type of:

   cloud, swarm

   a group of many things in the air or on the ground
5. verb

   cause to suffer a blight
   synonyms: blight

   type of:

   afflict, smite

   cause physical pain or suffering in
6. noun

   an annoyance
   type of:

   annoyance, bother, botheration, infliction, pain, pain in the neck

   something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness
7. verb

   annoy continually or chronically
   synonyms: beset, chevvy, chevy, chivvy, chivy, harass, harry, hassle, molest, provoke

   types:

   goad, needle

   goad or provoke, as by constant criticism

   bedevil, crucify, dun, frustrate, rag, torment

   treat cruelly

   haze

   harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions

   madden

   drive up the wall; get on someone's nerves

   hamstring

   make ineffective or powerless

   badger, beleaguer, bug, pester, tease

   annoy persistently

   oppress, persecute

   cause to suffer

   type of:

   annoy, bother, chafe, devil, get at, get to, gravel, irritate, nark, nettle, rag, rile, vex

   cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations