pestilential

[ pes-tl-en-shuhl ]

adjective

1. producing or tending to produce pestilence.
2. pertaining to or of the nature of pestilence, especially bubonic plague.
3. pernicious; harmful.
4. annoyingly troublesome.

pestilential

/ ˌpɛstɪˈlɛnʃəl /

adjective

1. dangerous or troublesome; harmful or annoying
2. of, causing, or resembling pestilence

Derived Forms

• ˌpestiˈlentially, adverb

Other Words From

• pesti·lential·ly adverb
• pesti·lential·ness noun
• anti·pesti·lential adjective
• nonpes·ti·lential adjective
• unpes·ti·lential adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pestilential¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English word from Medieval Latin word pestilentiālis. See pestilent, -ial

Example Sentences

Beginning with the Italianate geometries of Rio de Janeiro’s Passeio Público, the country’s first municipal garden, built over a pestilential lagoon between 1779 and ’83, Brazilian parks often mirrored European ones.

From New York Times

A garden pond can be either a pestilential mess or the beating heart of a landscape, depending on how well it is designed, engineered and maintained.

From Washington Post

"Have you been in this pestilential city long?"

From Literature

At one point, a big black fly disconcertingly lit on Mr. Pence’s white shock of hair, a pestilential symbol that proved the writers of our reality can be pretty heavy-handed with the metaphors.

From New York Times

In one email, Chancellor Samuel Mencoff expresses a desire to “kill this pestilential thing,” a reference to the 1998 agreement.

From Washington Times