Noun | 1. | ![]() epidemic disease - any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people bubonic plague, glandular plague, pestis bubonica - the most common form of the plague in humans; characterized by chills, prostration, delirium and the formation of buboes in the armpits and groin; does not spread from person to person plague pneumonia, pneumonic plague, pulmonic plague - a rapidly progressive and frequently fatal form of the plague that can spread through the air from person to person; characterized by lung involvement with chill, bloody expectoration and high fever septicemic plague - an especially dangerous and generally fatal form of the plague in which infecting organisms invade the bloodstream; does not spread from person to person |
2. | pest - any epidemic disease with a high death rate epidemic disease - any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people | |
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4. | pest - any unwanted and destructive insect or other animal that attacks food or crops or livestock etc.; "he sprayed the garden to get rid of pests"; "many pests have developed resistance to the common pesticides" animal, animate being, beast, creature, fauna, brute - a living organism characterized by voluntary movement vermin - any of various small animals or insects that are pests; e.g. cockroaches or rats; "cereals must be protected from mice and other vermin"; "he examined the child's head for vermin"; "boys in the village have probably been shooting vermin" |