pest

¹ American  

[pest] / pɛst /

noun

1. an annoying or troublesome person, animal, or thing; nuisance.

   Synonyms:

   annoyance

2. an insect or other small animal that harms or destroys garden plants, trees, etc.

3. a deadly epidemic disease, especially a plague; pestilence.

   Synonyms:

   epidemic, scourge, pandemic

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Pest ² American  

[pest, pesht] / pɛst, pɛʃt /

noun

1. Budapest

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pest British  

/ pɛst /

noun

1. a person or thing that annoys, esp by imposing itself when it is not wanted; nuisance

2. 1. any organism that damages crops, injures or irritates livestock or man, or reduces the fertility of land

   2. ( as modifier )

      pest control

3. rare an epidemic disease or pestilence

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Other Word Forms

• de-pest verb (used with object)

Etymology

Origin of pest

First recorded in 1545–55, pest is from the Latin word pestis plague

Example Sentences

The decaying structures can invite pests and become a blight.

From The Wall Street Journal

Whitehouse says insects' role in the ecosystem includes pollinating crops, controlling pests, decompose waste and recycling nutrients.

From BBC

Residents in the San Gabriel Valley are contending with a dramatic surge in black flies, a painful little pest known for biting around the eyes and necks of people and pets.

From Los Angeles Times

The ferret is thought to have been brought in deliberately in the 1980s to control pests.

From BBC

They are widely seen as a pest on agricultural land because their tunnelling can damage the root systems of crops and pasture and the molehills can cause damage to machinery.

From BBC

Related Words

• blight
• bug
• contagion
• epidemic
• infection
• plague
• scourge
• virus