INFEST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does infest mean? 

• INFEST (verb)
  The verb INFEST has 3 senses:

1. invade in great numbers

2. occupy in large numbers or live on a host

3. live on or in a host, as of parasites

  Familiarity information: INFEST used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INFEST (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they infest    ... he / she / it infests   
Past simple: infested   
Past participle: infested   
-ing form: infesting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Invade in great numbers

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

infest; overrun

Context example:

the roaches infested our kitchen

Hypernyms (to "infest" is one way to...):

invade; occupy (march aggressively into another's territory by military force for the purposes of conquest and occupation)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

infestation (a swarm of insects that attack plants)

infestation (the state of being invaded or overrun by parasites)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Occupy in large numbers or live on a host

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

infest; invade; overrun

Context example:

the Kudzu plant infests much of the South and is spreading to the North

Hypernyms (to "infest" is one way to...):

inhabit (be present in)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Something ----s something

Derivation:

infestation (a swarm of insects that attack plants)

infestation (the state of being invaded or overrun by parasites)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Live on or in a host, as of parasites

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "infest" is one way to...):

inhabit (be present in)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

 Context examples 

All infested people and their bedmates should be treated at the same time.

(Head Lice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

So it would be in an ordinary prize-battle, nephew; and it is fortunate that it should be so, or the rascals who infest the ring would soon make all sport impossible.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In humans the parasite infests the intestinal tract and may cause watery diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, nausea and vomiting.

(Coccidiosis, NCI Thesaurus)

The model accounted for local virus transmission by vectors, through seeds, from infested soil and other sources.

(Researchers model ways to control deadly maize disease, SciDev.Net)

The beetles, which are known to infest all kinds of seeds and beans, spoiled most of the seeds left exposed on the forest floor.

(Thai Elephants Help Spread Jungle Fruit's Seeds, Sadie Witkowski/VOA)

The parasite, also known as crab lice, is transmitted through skin to skin contact with an infected person or through direct contact with infested objects.

(Pediculosis Pubis, NCI Thesaurus)

But, besides real diseases, we are subject to many that are only imaginary, for which the physicians have invented imaginary cures; these have their several names, and so have the drugs that are proper for them; and with these our female Yahoos are always infested.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

But he knew life, its foulness as well as its fairness, its greatness in spite of the slime that infested it, and by God he was going to have his say on it to the world.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He took notice of a general tradition, that Yahoos had not been always in their country; but that many ages ago, two of these brutes appeared together upon a mountain; whether produced by the heat of the sun upon corrupted mud and slime, or from the ooze and froth of the sea, was never known; that these Yahoos engendered, and their brood, in a short time, grew so numerous as to overrun and infest the whole nation; that the Houyhnhnms, to get rid of this evil, made a general hunting, and at last enclosed the whole herd; and destroying the elder, every Houyhnhnm kept two young ones in a kennel, and brought them to such a degree of tameness, as an animal, so savage by nature, can be capable of acquiring, using them for draught and carriage; that there seemed to be much truth in this tradition, and that those creatures could not be yinhniamshy (or aborigines of the land), because of the violent hatred the Houyhnhnms, as well as all other animals, bore them, which, although their evil disposition sufficiently deserved, could never have arrived at so high a degree if they had been aborigines, or else they would have long since been rooted out; that the inhabitants, taking a fancy to use the service of the Yahoos, had, very imprudently, neglected to cultivate the breed of asses, which are a comely animal, easily kept, more tame and orderly, without any offensive smell, strong enough for labour, although they yield to the other in agility of body, and if their braying be no agreeable sound, it is far preferable to the horrible howlings of the Yahoos.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)