What Does ''pestilence'' Mean?

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What Does ''pestilence'' Mean?

2 Answers

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Answer 1

The word pestilence is a noun and you can use the word for a kind of infectious disease that spreads very quickly and it kills a lot of people in the area where it spreads. But this word is not something that is in popular use these days and you can find its use in old works or some literary works. Given below is a sentence that can make you understand the word very well as the context is given here where you can use the word: A lot of people were killed when a pestilence spread in Surat in India. The above-mentioned sentence says that a disease was spread in the city of Surat in India and as it spread very rapidly it left little time to think and a lot of people got killed.

Answer 2

Pestilence can be described as a deadly, evil influence or agent. It also refers to bubonic plague and any epidemic disease that is contagious and infectious. It comes from the Latin word "pestis" which indicates plague. Plagues are caused by rodents and are spread to humans through infected flea bites to humans. Humans in turn pass it on to others through aerosol droplets.

A lot of people have lost their lives due to plague and hence it is synonymous with death in literature. We find its mention in a lot of books like Scarlet Pimpernel, La Peste and The Pardoner's Tale. Today it also includes parasites like ringworm and leeches that cause sickness, infection and death.