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pestiferous

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Canada/ˌpɛsˈtɪfəɹəs/

pestiferous adjective: containing organisms that cause contagious diseases.

Adjective

pestiferous (comparative more pestiferous, superlative most pestiferous)

  1. Containing organisms that cause contagious diseases.
    • because he hath vouchsafed to preserue our nation from such fountains, from serpents and venemous wormes, & from al other pestiferous & contagious creatures.1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC
    • In these solemn moments man discovers the germ of those vices, which like the Java tree shed a pestiferous vapour around--death is in the shade!1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC
  2. Annoying, vexatious.
    • No, prelate; such is thy audacious wickedness, / Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks, / As very infants prattle of thy pride.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    • and if any could have hanged his hindering and pestiferous council and set him free, he would have answered Joan's prayer and set her in the field.1896, Mark Twain, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
    Synonyms:
    pestilent

pestiferous meaning in Tamil and Kannada

pestiferous in Tamil

தொற்றும் நோயும் தாங்கிய, தொல்லை தரும்

pestiferous in Kannada

ಜಾಡ್ಯತರುವ, ಹಾನಿಕಾರಕ, ಮಾರಕ, ಕೆಡುಕು ಮಾಡುವ, ವಿನಾಶಕ, ಘಾತುಕ

Examples of pestiferous in a sentence

  • Lois rescues Clark from the pestiferous curly...1938, Jerome Siegel, Joe Shuster, “Superman”, in Action Comics, 7, page 2:
  • GET RID OF THAT PESTIFEROUS HUNK OF JUNK!2016, Mau Heymans, Kirsten De Graaff, translated by Dwight Decker, “Late-Night Larceny”, in Donald Duck: Timeless Tales (Disney Comics)...

Synonyms of pestiferous

Forms of pestiferous

comparativemore pestiferous
superlativemost pestiferous

Origin of pestiferous

Mid 15th century, in sense “mischievous, pernicious”, from Latin pestifer (“bearing plague”), from pestis (“plague”) + -fer (“carrying”). By surface analysis, pesti- + -ferous (“bearing, carrying”).

Words formed from pestiferous

Words that rhyme with pestiferous

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about pestiferous

What does pestiferous mean?
Pestiferous means containing organisms that cause contagious diseases.
What is pestiferous in Tamil?
Pestiferous in Tamil is தொற்றும் நோயும் தாங்கிய, தொல்லை தரும். See Pestiferous meaning in Tamil.
How do you use pestiferous in a sentence?
Lois rescues Clark from the pestiferous curly...
What part of speech is pestiferous?
Pestiferous is an adjective.
How do you pronounce pestiferous?
Pestiferous is pronounced /ˌpɛsˈtɪfəɹəs/ (Canada).

Words near pestiferous in the dictionary

  1. pesticidally
  2. pesticide
  3. pesticides
  4. pestiduct
  5. pestiducts
  6. pestiferous
  7. pestiferously
  8. pestiferousness
  9. pestification
  10. pestify
  11. pestilence

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pestiferous (page history and authors); pestiferous (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); pestiferous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-pestiferous.wav.

Cite this entry: “pestiferous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pestiferous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.