单词 | plague |
释义 | plague (once / 333 pages) 1n 2nv 3nv 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. WORD FAMILYplague: plagued, plagues, plaguey, plaguing, plaguy+/plaguy: plaguily USAGE EXAMPLESEach is poor, plagued by alcoholism and drug abuse and fractured families. New York Times(Jan 01, 2017) The killings remain well below the more than 100 per year that plagued the city throughout much of the 1990s. Washington Times(Dec 31, 2016) A recent C.I.A. report described Uzbekistan as being plagued by “pervasive corruption.” New York Times(Dec 30, 2016) 1 n any large-scale calamity (especially when thought to be sent by God) 2Hyper calamity, cataclysm, catastrophe, disaster, tragedy an event resulting in great loss and misfortune 1n any epidemic disease with a high death rate Syn|Hyper pest, pestilence epidemic disease any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people 2n 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 Syn|Hypo|Hyper pest, pestilence, pestis 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 plaguea 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 plaguean especially dangerous and generally fatal form of the plague in which infecting organisms invade the bloodstream; does not spread from person to person ambulant plague, ambulatory plague, pestis ambulansa mild form of bubonic plague Black Death, Black Plaguethe epidemic form of bubonic plague experienced during the Middle Ages when it killed nearly half the people of western Europe epidemic disease any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people 3n a swarm of insects that attack plants a plague of grasshoppers Syn|Hyper infestation cloud, swarm a group of many things in the air or on the ground 4v cause to suffer a blight 3Syn|Hyper blight afflict, smite cause physical pain or suffering in 1n an annoyance those children are a damn plague Hyper annoyance, bother, botheration, infliction, pain, pain in the ass, pain in the neck something or someone that causes trouble; a source of unhappiness 2v annoy continually or chronically Syn|Hypo|Hyper beset, chevvy, chevy, chivvy, chivy, harass, harry, hassle, molest, provoke goad, needle goad or provoke,as by constant criticism bedevil, crucify, dun, frustrate, rag, tormenttreat cruelly hazeharass by imposing humiliating or painful tasks, as in military institutions maddendrive up the wall; go on someone's nerves hamstringmake ineffective or powerless badger, beleaguer, bug, pester, teaseannoy persistently oppress, persecutecause to suffer annoy, bother, chafe, devil, get at, get to, gravel, irritate, nark, nettle, rag, rile, vex cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations |
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