plague
Americannoun
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plagues
plural
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an epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.
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an infectious, epidemic disease caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, characterized by fever, chills, and prostration, transmitted to humans from rats by means of the bites of fleas.
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any widespread affliction, calamity, or evil, especially one regarded as a direct punishment by God.
a plague of war and desolation.
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any cause of trouble, annoyance, or vexation.
Uninvited guests are a plague.
verb (used with object)
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plagues,
present (3rd person singular)
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plagued,
past participle, past
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plaguing
present participle
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to trouble, annoy, or torment in any manner.
The question of his future plagues him with doubt.
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to annoy, bother, or pester.
Ants plagued the picnickers.
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to smite with a plague, pestilence, death, etc.; scourge.
those whom the gods had plagued.
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to infect with a plague; cause an epidemic in or among.
diseases that still plague the natives of Ethiopia.
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to afflict with any evil.
He was plagued by allergies all his life.
noun
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any widespread and usually highly contagious disease with a high fatality rate
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an infectious disease of rodents, esp rats, transmitted to man by the bite of the rat flea ( Xenopsylla cheopis )
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See bubonic plague
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something that afflicts or harasses
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informal an annoyance or nuisance
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a pestilence, affliction, or calamity on a large scale, esp when regarded as sent by God
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archaic used to express annoyance, disgust, etc
a plague on you
verb
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to afflict or harass
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to bring down a plague upon
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informal to annoy
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Any of various highly infectious, usually fatal epidemic diseases.
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An often fatal disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted to humans usually by fleas that have bitten infected rats or other rodents.
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◆ Bubonic plague, the most common type, is characterized by the tender, swollen lymph nodes called buboes, fever, clotting abnormalities of the blood, and tissue necrosis. An epidemic of bubonic plague in fourteenth-century Europe and Asia was known as the Black Death.
Synonym Usage
See bother.
Discover More
The term is also used to refer to widespread outbreaks of many kinds, such as a “plague of locusts.”
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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plaguesimple
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plaguessimple
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have plaguedperfect
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has plaguedperfect
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am plaguingprogressive
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are plaguingprogressive
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is plaguingprogressive
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have been plaguingperfect progressive
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has been plaguingperfect progressive
Past
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plaguedsimple
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had plaguedperfect
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was plaguingprogressive
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were plaguingprogressive
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had been plaguingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of plague
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English plage, from Latin plāga “stripe, wound,” Late Latin: “pestilence”
Explanation
When the homeowner described her ant problem as a plague, the exterminator thought she was being a bit melodramatic. After all, a few bugs aren't exactly a huge calamity. Centuries ago, if you had admitted to a friend that you had the plague, that friend would have hightailed it in the other direction. In the Middle Ages, the plague was a horribly contagious illness that spread like wildfire through Europe, killing millions of people. Thanks to the introduction of better hygiene and antibiotics, plague doesn't describe a killer disease as often these days. Instead, it commonly overstates an annoyance, like an apartment dweller claiming his building is plagued by cockroaches.
Vocabulary lists containing plague
A Long Walk to Water
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But trouble started to plague the startup as it grew.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Paul Keim, plague researcher and professor at Northern Arizona University, also said there is no reason for people in North America to start taking doxycycline.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Or you might have seared in your mind the image of the beaked masks that plague doctors wore in the 1600s, which, given the lack of treatments at the time, became closely associated with death.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
The antibiotic is among those used to treat plague in countries that see cases each year, helping to contain outbreaks.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The swarm enveloped the body of the plague god in an opaque cloud, its buzzing reaching an ear-piercing whine.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
This is not helped by the insecurity that plagues eastern DR Congo.
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026
We’ve had plagues and climate change before, to some degree, but until the Manhattan Project, humans weren’t really in control of that kind of existential, destructive power.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
Acts of God are environmental: droughts, floods, locust plagues and the unusual winters that froze the Thames, contributing to recessions in 1710, 1739-40, 1762 and 1946-47.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Government inefficiency still plagues the country, and it has the worst pollution on the planet.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
The stockman’s zeal for eliminating the coyote has resulted in plagues of field mice, which the coyote formerly controlled.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
Now he can get some much-needed rest and recovery, a reality check and, possibly, some surgical procedures to repair the knee and biceps injuries that plagued him this season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
The rule was plagued by delays and litigation from the for-profit college industry.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026
For all the delays and frustrations that have plagued this rivalry over the past decade, Fury against Joshua remains the pinnacle of domestic boxing.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Security breaches and questionable procurement practices had plagued an initiative that was supposed to bridge the digital divide for underprivileged students.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026
Was there ever a time when people weren’t plagued with boredom?
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
Luria said that Microsoft has now countered the negative narratives that were plaguing its stock earlier this year.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
Nigeria's president has approved the country's largest military expansion in recent times - an attempt to tackle the slew of security challenges plaguing the nation.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Common munitions, compatible maintenance capabilities, pooled inventories, shared procurement—all were strengthened at the summit, helping to overcome the fragmentation plaguing much of European defense.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
There is no wall up, no layer of artifice between the musician and the actor plaguing modern biopics.
From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026
“Begin to do something now by not plaguing his life out,” said Meg sharply.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
