plague - Definition | Dictionary definition of plague

Definition of plague

Nouns

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:: show 5 types...; hide 5 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; 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; 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

Type of:: epidemic disease
any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people

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

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

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

an annoyance

"those children are a damn plague"

Type of:: annoyance, bother, botheration, infliction, pain, pain in the ass, pain in the neck
something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness

Verbs

cause to suffer a blight

Synonyms:: blight

Type of:: afflict, smite
cause physical pain or suffering in

annoy continually or chronically

Synonyms:: beset, chevvy, chevy, chivvy, chivy, harass, harry, hassle, molest, provoke

Types:: show 7 types...; hide 7 types...; goad, needle
goad or provoke,as by constant criticism; bedevil, crucify, dun, frustrate, rag, torment
treat cruelly; madden
drive up the wall; go on someone's nerves; hamstring
make ineffective or powerless; badger, beleaguer, bug, pester, tease
annoy persistently; oppress, persecute
cause to suffer; haze
harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions