(n.) Specifically, the disease known as the plague; hence, any contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating.
(n.) Fig.: That which is pestilent, noxious, or pernicious to the moral character of great numbers.
Example Sentences:
(1) The policies of zero tolerance equip local and federal law-enforcement with increasingly autocratic powers of coercion and surveillance (the right to invade anybody's privacy, bend the rules of evidence, search barns, stop motorists, inspect bank records, tap phones) and spread the stain of moral pestilence to ever larger numbers of people assumed to be infected with reefer madness – anarchists and cheap Chinese labour at the turn of the 20th century, known homosexuals and suspected communists in the 1920s, hippies and anti-Vietnam war protesters in the 1960s, nowadays young black men sentenced to long-term imprisonment for possession of a few grams of short-term disembodiment.
(2) As in the metaphorical community in Camus' narrative, the struggle of individuals against the pestilence (including official obstruction) is imperative.
(3) Overpopulation brings decreases in economic and social progress; pestilence, famine, and fear; riots in the cities; sacrifices in personal comfort and safety; and a blow to world order.
(4) Again and again, Camus invokes some condition of well-being that has been forfeited, because the pestilence has taken hold.
(5) Both sets of MHC antigens serve to diversify immunity-repertoire gaps among individuals of a population, thus hampering epidemic spread of infection and providing a diversity of immunoreactivity that favours survival of at least some members of a population in the face of pestilence.
(6) The arguments for future massive crises due to population pressure (war, famine, and pestilence) are unconvincing.
(7) Pestilence may be stalking the planet, and the global financial system is still teetering on the edge of collapse, but there finally came a reason today for us all to cheer up: Britain is heading for a warm and dry summer.
(8) Still though, it's a tiny part of the demon's dermatology and as such, connected to all the other pestilence.
(9) For much of the intervening time, this paper has charted the continent's battles with poverty, famine, pestilence, corruption, drought, Aids and war.
(10) I do not know for how long this went on; I know that they cared for him and I know too that it was as though a golden harvest had been mowed down by a night's dark wind, or a pestilence had come into the trees, and it was unlucky even to mention his name or ask for news of him.
(11) They are not a disease or rats bringing pestilence.
(12) Innovations in disease prevention and patient care have been essential in the conquest of pestilence.
(13) Lord Dobbs, the Tory peer who wrote the TV political thriller House of Cards and who is promoting the bill, said a poll was needed because the EU had become a "pestilence".
(14) He could not stop the firm plunging into the red, reeling from attacks by computer hackers, the tsunami of 2011 and next-generation PlayStation delays, once complaining the company had been hit by "everything but toads and pestilence".
(15) In a letter to the Henley Standard he wrote: "The scriptures make it abundantly clear that a Christian nation that abandons its faith and acts contrary to the Gospel (and in naked breach of a coronation oath) will be beset by natural disasters such as storms, disease, pestilence and war.
(16) Current events once more arouse fears that the probable conclusion of our present growth era will unfortunately consist of widespread death from famine, pestilence, and social disruption of various kinds (perhaps involving nuclear devices).
(17) It has become a pestilence, it has become a poison in our political system.
(18) It is ironic that smallpox became an epidemic pestilence upon the growth of populations, yet it played a major role in preventing population growth until variolation and vaccination became common.
(19) As the four plants from which Valverde has been extracted (valerian, balm, passion-flower, and pestilence wort) have a reputation of being tranquilizing agents with spasmolytic effect, not only this effect needs to be demonstrated, but also sedative side effects and impairment of vigilance must be assessed to explore the risk for accident proneness.
(20) The shadow of Tony Blair brings with it memories of past wars and pestilences, of slick and spin.
Scourge
Definition:
(n.) A lash; a strap or cord; especially, a lash used to inflict pain or punishment; an instrument of punishment or discipline; a whip.
(n.) Hence, a means of inflicting punishment, vengeance, or suffering; an infliction of affliction; a punishment.
(n.) To whip severely; to lash.
(n.) To punish with severity; to chastise; to afflict, as for sins or faults, and with the purpose of correction.
(n.) To harass or afflict severely.
Example Sentences:
(1) King Salman of Saudi Arabia urged the redoubling of efforts to “eradicate this dangerous scourge and rid the world of its evils”.
(2) He added: "Those responsible for the murders of Fiona, Nicola, Mark and David Short are established criminals who are a scourge on our society.
(3) Afterwards, the scourge of corrupt politicians wagged his own clean finger in front of the cameras.
(4) But the British prime minister oozed schadenfreude with the result, received strong support from the Germans, the Dutch and the Scandinavians and looked pleased with the stalemate, portraying himself as the scourge of bloated Brussels, the guardian of the British and the European taxpayer.
(5) Francis, however, said the treatment hospital was a "shrine to human suffering" that emphasised the need to confront the scourge of drugs through education, justice and stronger social values.
(6) The former scourge of the establishment, then, became its friend.
(7) Lynch confirmation may 'be resolved' in 48 to 72 hours, says GOP senator Read more But the biggest Congressional headache of the year – a single cabinet nomination effectively hijacking the legislative calendar – has culminated in “a very sad irony”: Lynch has been one of the country’s premier guardians of victims of sex trafficking, and a tireless scourge of sex traffickers, a review of her record and conversations with current and former colleagues reveal.
(8) Late that night, Eliot Spitzer, New York governor and the scourge of Wall Street banks, called his closest aides.
(9) Shark finning, to serve Chinese diners, has also been a scourge.
(10) They include family formation and education and good jobs, and we’re going to bring them to the American people and finally end the scourge of poverty in this great land.” Although the conservative prescription is more familiar than the egalitarian diagnosis, such a full-throated emphasis on poverty would have marked a distinct change of tone for Republicans .
(11) In truth, zero-hours contracts (ZHC) aren’t the scourge of everyone’s existence.
(12) Despite stepped-up efforts to curb the scourge, the number of animals killed is around 100 higher than at the same point in 2013, a year which saw a record 1,004 deaths .
(13) Possibly one of the greatest contributions we can make to our patients' welfare is to share the knowledge that the risk of dying of breast cancer is considerably smaller than the risk of developing breast cancer; that the risk of early death from breast cancer rarely exceeds 10% in even the highest risk groups; and that the life styles most likely to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and other scourges of womankind are also those most likely to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer.
(14) Even age-old scourges such as slavery continue to exist.
(15) A Home Office spokesperson said the department was already taking action to address key issues raised by the inspection report, saying: “This government is leading the world in confronting the scourge of modern slavery including through the groundbreaking Modern Slavery Act.
(16) In 2015, Barack Obama condemned “the scourge of antisemitism”.
(17) The marriage of two scourges, one old (mycobacterial disease) and one new (HIV), has presented an enormous challenge to the medical and public health communities, and has stirred renewed interest in mechanisms for immune control of mycobacterial infection.
(18) Like his colleague Tory MP Nicholas Soames, who in 2009 called the "scourge" of ragwort a national "shame", Benyon struck back, saying his critics were being "unnecessarily aggressive", and that he wasn't advocating ethnic cleansing of ragwort but that he wanted to deal with "a severe infestation of a poisonous plant".
(19) If anything, the economic crisis had made the scourge of unemployment even worse – on estates such as La Chêne Pointu, where more than half the population is under 25, joblessness tops 40%.
(20) We are going to be helping to put together a plan for them, so that they can start retaking territory that ISIL had taken over.” Iraq, which is forming a new government, and Muslim states with Sunni majorities, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey, would have to “step up” to confront the scourge of Sunni extremism, he said.