From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpestilencepes‧ti‧lence /ˈpestələns/ noun [countable, uncountable] literaryMI a disease that spreads quickly and kills a lot of people SYN plague
Examples from the Corpus
pestilence• In return Apollo sent a pestilence, and Poseidon the sea serpent.• It has inspired legions of compassionate men and women to minister to the needy in times of famine, war and pestilence.• To the disorder caused by pestilence, other pressures were added in the late fourteenth century.• He was the one who released famine, pestilence and all the other evils into the world.• All over the world, life has been swept away, as if by some murderous pestilence.• David is compelled to choose between three classical punishments - disasters, famine or pestilence.• And now that the war is going worse than ever, the pestilence has emerged into noonday.Origin pestilence (1300-1400) French Latin pestilentia, from pestis; → PEST 