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# pestilence

«pestilence» in Mova's school dictionary: **A deadly disease that spreads quickly through many…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a pestilence, pestilences)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (old or formal) A deadly disease that spreads quickly through many people, such as the plague. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#m1)

2) (Bible) One of the disasters sent as punishment or warning, as in the plagues of Egypt; the rider "Pestilence" of the Book of Revelation. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#m2)

3) Something that is very harmful or annoying (old use). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons, the Black Death of 1347-1351 was a pestilence that killed huge numbers of people in Europe. In Bible lessons and old stories, pestilence goes together with famine and war. The modern word is "epidemic" or "pandemic".

### examples

- The pestilence swept through the town in 1665. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#x1)
- In the Bible, pestilence and famine are warnings. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#x2)
- The Black Death was a terrible pestilence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#x3)
- People fled the city to escape the pestilence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#x4)
- Rats and fleas helped spread the pestilence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#x5)
- Old prayers asked God to keep people safe from pestilence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#x6)
- But at last the gods afflicted the country with a grievous pestilence, which made terrible havoc among the people. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/#x7)

### note

Old-fashioned and formal; modern words: plague, epidemic, pandemic. Related: pest, pesticide. Pronounced "PES-ti-lunce".

### In the corpora

- [And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they shall die of a great pestilence.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/JER.572/)
- [Before him goeth the pestilence, and fiery bolts go forth at His feet.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/HAB.47/)
- [He levelled a path for His anger; He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.1377/)
- [That He will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.1638/)
- [Of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor of the destruction that wasteth at noonday.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PSA.1641/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «pestilence» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/pestilence/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.