adjective
pestilential
pes-tih-LEN-shul/ˌpestɪˈlenʃl/
Causing or associated with widespread deadly disease.
Rats carry pestilential fleas that spread deadly disease through the city.
Etymology
The underlying noun meant both plague and an unwholesome atmosphere. The adjective describes something characterized by deadly disease or tending to produce it, rather than merely something unpleasant.
In context
nor do I think that in this island particularly there is any one instance of a pestilential disease among us of great consequence which we did not receive from other infected places
More examples
- The port quarantines ships arriving from pestilential regions.
- The report describes the pestilential conditions in the overcrowded prison.
- In the novel, a pestilential fever sweeps through the village.
Forms
pestilential
pestilence noun — A widespread, often deadly infectious disease.
Similar words
- infectious
- Describes something capable of transmitting infection, not necessarily deadly.
- epidemic
- Describes disease spreading widely, without necessarily causing many deaths.