pestiferous
spreading or bearing disease, especially deadly epidemic disease; pestilential: pestiferous rats.
pernicious; evil: The wicked duke's pestiferous rule blighted the countryside.
Informal. mischievous; troublesome or annoying: Those pestiferous boys won't leave my apple tree alone.
Origin of pestiferous
1Other words from pestiferous
- pes·tif·er·ous·ly, adverb
- pes·tif·er·ous·ness, noun
Words Nearby pestiferous
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use pestiferous in a sentence
I shall again breathe the pestiferous air of St. Stephen's Chappel.
Private Letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 1 (of 2) | Edward GibbonNo vegetables except moss and toadstool-like productions could exist in that airless and pestiferous region.
In the Wilds of Florida | W.H.G. KingstonThe air, too, was close and pestiferous, as if all the foul vapours had been forced up from the inward recesses of the hold.
Hurricane Hurry | W.H.G. KingstonThe carpet bagger when not fighting the pestiferous vermin in the Chickahominy swamps was pilfering.
The Broken Sword | Dennison WorthingtonIt is a region of stagnant waters, pestiferous exhalations, decrepit men, famished animals.
The Desert World | Arthur Mangin
British Dictionary definitions for pestiferous
/ (pɛˈstɪfərəs) /
informal troublesome; irritating
breeding, carrying, or spreading infectious disease
corrupting; pernicious
Origin of pestiferous
1Derived forms of pestiferous
- pestiferously, adverb
- pestiferousness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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