pestilence

Syllables: pes·ti·lence/ˈpɛstələn(t)s/US/ˈpɛstələn(t)s/

pestilence noun: any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.

Noun

pestilence (countable and uncountable, plural pestilences)

Any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.
- and hit was in the realme of Logrys and soo bifelle grete pestylence & grete harme to both Realmes
  "And it was in the realm of Logris; and so befell great pestilence and great harm to both realms."1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book XVII, Chapter iii, leaf 347r
- Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
  Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 91:5-6
Synonyms:

plague, murrain
(archaic) Anything harmful to morals or public order.

Proper noun capitalized: Pestilence

Pestilence

The personification of pestilence, often depicted riding a white horse.

Synonyms:

Conquest, the white rider

pestilence meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

pestilence in Hindi

any highly contagious epidemic disease: महामारी mahāmārī, जनपदमारी janpadmārī, वबा vabā, ताऊन tāūn

pestilence in Urdu

وبا

pestilence in Bengali

মারাত্মক এবং বিধ্বংসী

pestilence in Malayalam

കഠിന സാംക്രമികരോഗം, പ്ലേഗ്, മഹാമാരി, മഹാശല്യം

More languagesFewer languages

pestilence in Kannada: ಮಾರಕ ಬೇನೆ, ಸಾಂಕ್ರಾಮಿಕ ರೋಗ, ಅಂಟುಬೇನೆ, ಸೋಂಕು ಬೇನೆ
pestilence in Gujarati: મરકી markī
pestilence in Sanskrit: मार māra

Examples of pestilence in a sentence

"Take it, Christian dogsǃ take the palaces, the gardens, the mosques, the abode of our fathers - take plague with them; pestilence is the enemy we fly; if she be your friend, hug her to your bosoms.1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter II, in The Last Man. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
The pestilence slew and slew, and ceased not by day or by night, and those who escaped from the pestilence were slain of the famine.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
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:

Synonyms of pestilence

plague
murrain
Conquest
the white rider

Forms of pestilence

plural	pestilences

Plural of pestilence: pestilences

Origin of pestilence

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pestilentia (“plague”), from pestilens (“infected, unwholesome, noxious”); equivalent to pestilent + -ence.

Questions about pestilence

What does pestilence mean?: Pestilence means any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.
What is pestilence in Hindi?: Pestilence in Hindi is महामारी (mahāmārī), जनपदमारी (janpadmārī), वबा (vabā). See Pestilence meaning in Hindi.
How do you use pestilence in a sentence?: "Take it, Christian dogsǃ take the palaces, the gardens, the mosques, the abode of our fathers - take plague with them; pestilence is the enemy we fly; if she be your friend, hug her to your bosoms.
What part of speech is pestilence?: Pestilence can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce pestilence?: Pestilence is pronounced /ˈpɛstələn(t)s/.
What is the plural of pestilence?: The plural of pestilence is pestilences.

Words near pestilence in the dictionary

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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

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