PLAGUE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does plague mean? 

• PLAGUE (noun)
  The noun PLAGUE has 5 senses:

1. a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal

2. any epidemic disease with a high death rate

3. a swarm of insects that attack plants

4. any large scale calamity (especially when thought to be sent by God)

5. an annoyance

  Familiarity information: PLAGUE used as a noun is common.

• PLAGUE (verb)
  The verb PLAGUE has 2 senses:

1. cause to suffer a blight

2. annoy continually or chronically

  Familiarity information: PLAGUE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLAGUE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

pest; pestilence; pestis; plague

Hypernyms ("plague" is a kind of...):

epidemic disease (any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "plague"):

bubonic plague; glandular plague; pestis bubonica (the most common form of the plague in humans; characterized by chills, prostration, delirium and the formation of buboes in the armpits and groin; does not spread from person to person)

plague pneumonia; pneumonic plague; pulmonic plague (a rapidly progressive and frequently fatal form of the plague that can spread through the air from person to person; characterized by lung involvement with chill, bloody expectoration and high fever)

septicemic plague (an especially dangerous and generally fatal form of the plague in which infecting organisms invade the bloodstream; does not spread from person to person)

Derivation:

plague (cause to suffer a blight)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any epidemic disease with a high death rate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

pest; pestilence; plague

Hypernyms ("plague" is a kind of...):

epidemic disease (any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people)

Derivation:

plague (cause to suffer a blight)

plaguey (likely to spread and cause an epidemic disease)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A swarm of insects that attack plants

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

infestation; plague

Context example:

a plague of grasshoppers

Hypernyms ("plague" is a kind of...):

cloud; swarm (a group of many things in the air or on the ground)

Derivation:

plague (cause to suffer a blight)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Any large scale calamity (especially when thought to be sent by God)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("plague" is a kind of...):

calamity; cataclysm; catastrophe; disaster; tragedy (an event resulting in great loss and misfortune)

Sense 5

Meaning:

An annoyance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

those children are a damn plague

Hypernyms ("plague" is a kind of...):

annoyance; bother; botheration; infliction; pain; pain in the ass; pain in the neck (something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Derivation:

plague (annoy continually or chronically)

plaguey; plaguy (causing irritation or annoyance)

• PLAGUE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they plague    ... he / she / it plagues   
Past simple: plagued   
Past participle: plagued   
-ing form: plaguing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to suffer a blight

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

blight; plague

Context example:

Too much rain may blight the garden with mold

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

afflict; smite (cause physical pain or suffering in)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

plague (a swarm of insects that attack plants)

plague (any epidemic disease with a high death rate)

plague (a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Annoy continually or chronically

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

beset; chevvy; chevy; chivvy; chivy; harass; harry; hassle; molest; plague; provoke

Context example:

This man harasses his female co-workers

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

annoy; bother; chafe; devil; get at; get to; gravel; irritate; nark; nettle; rag; rile; vex (cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "plague"):

goad; needle (annoy or provoke, as by constant criticism)

bedevil; crucify; dun; frustrate; rag; torment (treat cruelly)

haze (harass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot plague Sue

Derivation:

plague (an annoyance)

 Context examples 

Pneumonic plague is the most serious form. Bacteria enter the lungs and cause pneumonia.

(Plague, NIH: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

I don't mean to plague you and will bear it like a man, but I do wish it was all settled.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I really cannot be plaguing myself for ever with all the new poems and states of the nation that come out.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

"Why do you plague me about souls? Haven't I got enough to worry, and pain, and distract me already, without thinking of souls!"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"A plague on all their houses!" was Brissenden's answer to Martin's volunteering to market his work for him.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

In septicemic plague, the infection spreads directly through the bloodstream.

(Plague, NCI Thesaurus)

“Not wretch enough yet!” answered the sparrow as she flew away; “now will I plague and punish thee at thy own house.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“We can all plague and punish one another. Tease him—laugh at him. Intimate as you are, you must know how it is to be done.”

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Pisces rules water, and although some love swimming along with water sports, others avoid water like the plague.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He went away to his regiment two days ago, and I trust I shall never be plagued with him again.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)