Word.ws English Dictionary

plague

/pleɪɡ//plɛɡ/

plague noun: the bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis.

Noun

plague (countable and uncountable, plural plagues)

  1. (capitalized, often, sometimes) The bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis.
    • It was about the beginning of September, 1664, that I, among the rest of my neighbours, heard in ordinary discourse that the plague was returned again in Holland[…] It mattered not from whence it came; but all agreed it was come into Holland again.1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year
  2. An epidemic or pandemic caused by any pestilence, but especially that caused by the above disease.
    • Great plagues, such as the bubonic plague or smallpox or syphilis or influenza, can happen again.2006, Irwin W. Sherman, chapter 17, in The Power of Plagues, →ISBN
    Synonyms:
    pest, pestilence
  3. A widespread affliction, calamity, or destructive influx, especially when seen as divine retribution.
    • Ten Biblical plagues over Egypt, ranging from locusts to the death of the crown prince, finally forced Pharaoh to let Moses's people go.
    • A plague a both the Houſes, I am sped: / Is he gone and hath nothing?c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    Synonyms:
    murrain
  4. (figuratively) A grave nuisance, whatever greatly irritates.
    • Bart is an utter plague; his pranks never cease.
    • "I'm not doing anything as far as that goes," admitted Tulloch. "In fact," he added ruefully, "that's the plague of it. I'm waiting to hear from a man who's waiting to hear from another man, and he's depending on something that may or mayn't, you understand."1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
  5. (collective) A group of common grackles (a blackbird), especially when flocking to e.g. parking lots at night.
    • Plague of Grackles Reminiscent of Hitchcock's ‘The Birds'October 31, 2017, Ben Russell, “Plague of Grackles Reminiscent of Hitchcock's ‘The Birds'”, in NBCDFW
    • A plague of grackles hang out on wires on Friday, Dec. 16, 2022 in Houston.2024 January 30, Shakari Briggs, “Have you seen big flocks of blackbirds crowd Texas parking lots? Here's why”, in Houston Chronicle

Verb

plague (third-person singular simple present plagues, present participle plaguing, simple past and past participle plagued)

  1. (transitive) To harass, pester or annoy someone persistently or incessantly.
    • Dame Gill did grin,
      As she went in,
      And Jill was plagu'd by Jack,
      Will Goat came by,
      And made Jack cry,
      And knock'd him on his back.1810, Jack and Jill, and old Dame Gill, York: J. Kendrew, page 7
    • "Moreover," replied Congreve, "it was a sort of flattery to the duke. It showed that she valued the power of plaguing him more than her own fairest ornament. Flattery is the real secret by which a woman keeps her lover."1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Chapter XXVI. Lady Marchmont to Sir Jasper Meredith.”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 238
  2. (transitive) To afflict with a disease or other calamity.
    • Natural catastrophes plagued the colonists till they abandoned the pestilent marshland.
    • Falling prices and drought plagued the cattle industry.
    Synonyms:
    scourge, torment

plague meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

plague in Hindi

specific disease "the Plague"
प्लेग pleg, ताऊन tāūn

plague in Tamil

கொள்ளைநோய், எலி, கொள்ளை நோய், கோமாரி, மனிதன், பிளேக்கு

plague in Marathi

प्लेग, प्लेग करण्यासाठी

plague in Urdu

specific disease "the Plague"
طاعون tā'ūn
More languagesFewer languages
plague in Bengali
প্লেগ pleg
plague in Telugu
ఆలము ālamu, మారి māri
plague in Malayalam
പകർച്ചവ്യാധി, മഹാമാരി, അത്യാപത്ത്, മാരി
plague in Kannada
ಗಂಟುಬೇನೆ, ಸಾಂಕ್ರಾಮಿಕ, ಪ್ಲೇಗು, ಪಿಡುಗು
plague in Punjabi
ਮਰੀ marī
plague in Gujarati
પ્લેગ
plague in Odia
ମାରି māri
plague in Sanskrit
ईति īti
plague in Nepali
मर्कि marki
plague in Tagalog
salot
plague in Arabic
طَاعُون ṭāʕūn
plague in Persian
طاعون tâ'un, مرگامرگ margâmarg, بلا balâ
plague in Thai
กาฬโรค gaan-lá-rôok
plague in Vietnamese
dịch hạch, đại dịch, bệnh dịch

Examples of plague in a sentence

  • It's understandable- we had a horrible plague, followed by two years of COVID!2022 April 30, Joe Biden, 0:36 from the start, in President Biden complete remarks at 2022 White House Correspondents' Dinner (C-SPAN)...
  • A so-called "plague" of grackles outside the Hancock Center H-E-B.April 1, 2016, Mose Buchele, Texas Standard:
  • Clinton now seems determined to prove, perhaps to the point of overcompensation, that she will not repeat the mistakes that plagued her 2008 campaign.2015 April 15, Jonathan Martin, “For a Clinton, It’s Not Hard to Be Humble in an Effort to Regain Power”, in The New York Times:

All 40 example sentences with plague

Synonyms of plague

14 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of plague

Forms of plague

Noun
pluralplagues
Verb
third-person singular presentplagues
present participleplaguing
past participleplagued
pastplagued

Past tense of plague: plagued

Plural of plague: plagues

Origin of plague

From Middle English plage, borrowed from Old French plage, from Latin plāga (“blow, wound”), from plangō (“to strike”). Cognate with Middle Dutch plāghe (> Dutch plaag), plāghen (> Dutch plagen); Middle Low German plāge; Middle High German plāge, pflāge (> German Plage); plāgen (> German plagen); Swedish plåga; French plaie, Occitan plaga. Doublet of plaga. Displaced native Old English wōl.

Words formed from plague

Phrases with plague

4 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with plague

Questions about plague

What does plague mean?
Plague means the bubonic plague, the pestilent disease caused by the virulent bacterium Yersinia pestis.
What is plague in Hindi?
Plague in Hindi is प्लेग (pleg), ताऊन (tāūn). See Plague meaning in Hindi.
How do you use plague in a sentence?
It's understandable- we had a horrible plague, followed by two years of COVID!
What part of speech is plague?
Plague can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce plague?
Plague is pronounced /pleɪɡ/.
What is the plural of plague?
The plural of plague is plagues.

Words near plague in the dictionary

  1. plagiotropy
  2. plagium
  3. plagiums
  4. plagose
  5. plagosity
  6. plague
  7. plague cross
  8. plague crosses
  9. plague doctor
  10. plague doctors
  11. Plague of Justinian

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: plague (page history and authors); plague (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plague (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ఆలము (Telugu) (page history and authors); plague (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); plague (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਮਰੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); plague (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ମାରି (Odia) (page history and authors); ईति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); मर्कि (Nepali) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-plague.ogg.

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