pestilence
/ˈpɛstələn(t)s/
pestilence means the personification of pestilence, often depicted riding a white horse. It carries an Arena rating of 1750, earned across 30 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, pestilence ranks #209 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #805 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #855 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #918 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
pestilence is pronounced /ˈpɛstələn(t)s/.
Why “pestilence” is a great word
A highly fatal and virulent epidemic disease, or by extension, a pernicious influence that corrupts and destroys. From Middle English, from Old French pestilence, from Latin pestilentia (“plague”), from pestilens (“infected, unwholesome, noxious”). Unlike “plague,” which often names a singular historical calamity, or “epidemic,” a clinical term for widespread occurrence, pestilence carries the heavier air of biblical judgment and moral decay. It is the rustle of death in a deserted street, the sweet-rotten smell clinging to a closed-up house, the frantic, useless ringing of church bells over a silenced city—the old, chilling recognition that disorder unravels not just bodies, but the very covenants of civilization.
Etymology
From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pestilentia (“plague”), from pestilens (“infected, unwholesome, noxious”); equivalent to pestilent + -ence.
name
- The personification of pestilence, often depicted riding a white horse.
noun
- Any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.
- Anything harmful to morals or public order.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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