Plagues

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /pleɪɡz/

Definitions

1. Spreads or causes a severe infectious disease affecting many people ; troubles or harasses someone persistently or repeatedly
2. Acts as a source of a contagious illness on a large scale ; continually bothers or afflicts someone with problems or difficulties
3. Introduces or propagates an epidemic illness among populations ; subjects a person or group to ongoing annoyance or difficulty

Etymology: "Plagues" is the third-person singular present form of the verb "plague," so the story is really the story of the verb. It goes back to Latin "plāga," meaning "blow" or "wound," which came from "plangō," "to strike." Middle English took the word from Old French "plage," and the sense of a blow or stroke carried into the language before it took on the idea of a wound. The verb's connection to disease is a later extension. A blow that wounds becomes an affliction, and an affliction spread across a population becomes a pestilence, which is how "plague" came to name a deadly contagious illness. The modern sense of continually troubling someone grows from the same root idea: a repeated striking that will not stop.

Synonyms: epidemics, afflictions, calamities, diseases, troubles