noun / verb
plague
PLAYG/pleɪɡ/
A severe infectious disease capable of widespread outbreaks.
The plague spreads between households as the clinician checks another ill resident.
Etymology
Latin plaga meant a stroke or wound, then an affliction or destruction. That image of a damaging blow extended to pestilence, explaining both widespread disease and a destructive trouble.
In context
that had been wrought through the slaughter of the world the survivors of the cataclysm were arguably the most unfortunate of all upon them now had befallen a curse a plague of the Mind
More examples
- Fleas can spread plague from infected animals to people.
- An outbreak of plague forces the town to close its market.
- Bubonic plague causes painful swelling in the lymph nodes.
Forms
plague · plagues · plagued · plaguing
Similar words
- pestilence
- Emphasizes deadly epidemic disease and sounds more formal or historical.
- epidemic
- Names a widespread outbreak, rather than the disease itself.