plague

Formsplagues, plaguing, plagued

Pluralplagues

1. 1
   make sufferverbtransitive

   To cause someone or something to suffer from a disease or some other calamity.

   Cholera and dysentery plagued the army throughout the winter campaign.

   Locust swarms still plague parts of East Africa after unusually heavy rains.

2. 2
   epidemicnouncountable

   An epidemic or pandemic of any deadly infectious disease, and in particular one of bubonic plague.

   Historians trace the decline of several ancient cities to plagues that killed much of their population.

   Epidemiologists study how a plague moves from a single village to an entire continent.

   Similarpestilence, epidemic

   Note

   Here the word counts outbreaks rather than naming one germ, so it takes a plural freely and covers more than one disease. Irwin W. Sherman's The Power of Plagues (2006) groups smallpox, syphilis and influenza with bubonic plague as “great plagues.” Size is no test: a regional epidemic and a continent-wide pandemic both qualify. Pestilence is the closest synonym, and when no disease is named, bubonic plague is the likeliest reading. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Irwin W. Sherman wrote The Power of Plagues. onlinelibrary.wiley.com
   • Sherman groups smallpox, syphilis, influenza and bubonic plague as “great plagues.” en.wiktionary.org
3. 3
   the disease itselfnoununcountable

   A deadly infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, most often in its commonest form, bubonic plague.

   Fleas living on ship rats carried the plague through the port within a few weeks.

   A rancher who handled a dead prairie dog was treated with antibiotics for plague.

   Note

   As the name of a disease it often takes the article; the narrator of Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) hears that “the plague was returned again in Holland.” Sometimes it is capitalized, the Plague, as though it were a proper name. It can also stand bare, the way other disease names do: a case of plague, treated for plague.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A widespread affliction or calamity, or a destructive influx of something, especially one seen as divine punishment.

   That spring a plague of mice swept through the wheat fields, and the village preacher called it a judgment on the town.

   Opioid addiction has become a plague in many rural towns.

   Similarscourge, infestation, blight, curse, affliction

   Note

   The word's root idea of a blow lies closest to the surface here: Latin plāga meant “blow, wound,” and is related to plangō, “to strike.” Such a plague falls on a people as the ten plagues fell on Egypt, and followed by “of” it names the swarm itself: a plague of locusts. The curse “a plague on” wishes that blow on someone, as in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: “A plague a both the Houses.” Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Plague derives ultimately from Latin plāga, meaning “blow, wound,” related to plangō, “to strike.” en.wiktionary.org
   • The biblical account describes ten plagues inflicted on Egypt. en.wikipedia.org
   • William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. gutenberg.org
   • “A plague a both the Houses” occurs in Romeo and Juliet, spoken by Mercutio; the wording is confirmed in the original-spelling text. gutenberg.org
5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To annoy, pester, or harass someone persistently, giving them no peace.

   Her younger brother plagued her all afternoon with questions until she finally agreed to take him to the pool.

   Doubts plague her every time she sends a new manuscript to her editor.

   Similarpester, harass, bug, badger, hound

   Note

   The pestering ranges from a lover's teasing to a neighborhood's crime wave. Letitia Elizabeth Landon, in 1837, writes of a woman who valued “the power of plaguing him”; now it is gangs and a campaign's old mistakes that do the plaguing. The progressive suits a trouble that will not quit: have been plaguing Islington for more than a year. In writing, the e drops before -ing: plaguing, not plagueing. Source

   Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Landon's quoted passage was published in 1837, in Ethel Churchill. en.wikipedia.org
   • Landon writes of a woman valuing “the power of plaguing him”; the words are spoken by Congreve within the novel. en.wikisource.org
   • The Islington example concerns gangs and contains the wording “have been plaguing Islington for more than a year.” en.wiktionary.org
   • A cited example describes mistakes plaguing a political campaign. en.wiktionary.org
   • The present participle is spelled “plaguing.” en.wiktionary.org

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