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Definition of plagued - 2 dictionary results

plague

  [pleyg] noun, verb, plagued, pla⋅guing.
Use plagued in a Sentence
–noun
1. an epidemic disease that causes high mortality; pestilence.
2. an infectious, epidemic disease caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis, characterized by fever, chills, and prostration, transmitted to humans from rats by means of the bites of fleas. Compare bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, septicemic plague.
3. any widespread affliction, calamity, or evil, esp. one regarded as a direct punishment by God: a plague of war and desolation.
4. any cause of trouble, annoyance, or vexation: Uninvited guests are a plague.
–verb (used with object)
5. to trouble, annoy, or torment in any manner: The question of his future plagues him with doubt.
6. to annoy, bother, or pester: Ants plagued the picnickers.
7. to smite with a plague, pestilence, death, etc.; scourge: those whom the gods had plagued.
8. to infect with a plague; cause an epidemic in or among: diseases that still plague the natives of Ethiopia.
9. to afflict with any evil: He was plagued by allergies all his life.
Origin:
1350–1400; ME plage < L plāga stripe, wound, LL: pestilence

Related forms:
plaguer, noun

Synonyms:
4. nuisance, bother, torment. 6. harass, vex, harry, hector, fret, worry, badger, irritate, disturb. See bother.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To plagued
plague   (plāg)   
n.  
  1. A widespread affliction or calamity, especially one seen as divine retribution.
  2. A sudden destructive influx or injurious outbreak: a plague of locusts; a plague of accidents.
  3. A cause of annoyance; a nuisance: "the plague of social jabbering" (George Santayana).
    1. A highly infectious, usually fatal, epidemic disease; a pestilence.
    2. A highly fatal infectious disease that is caused by the bacterium Yersinia (syn. Pasturella ) pestis, is transmitted primarily by the bite of a rat flea, and occurs in bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic forms.
tr.v.   plagued, plagu·ing, plagues
  1. To pester or annoy persistently or incessantly. See Synonyms at harass.
  2. To afflict with or as if with a disease or calamity: "Runaway inflation further plagued the wage- or salary-earner" (Edwin O. Reischauer).

[Middle English plage, blow, calamity, plague, from Late Latin plāga, from Latin, blow, wound; see plāk-2 in Indo-European roots. V., Middle English plaghen, from Middle Dutch, from plaghe, plague, from Late Latin plāga.]
plagu'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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