Meaning
plague, pestilence
- a deadly epidemic disease, especially the plague
- figuratively, a widespread ruinous scourge or persistent nuisance
In a sentence
Nel Trecento una terribile pestilenza decimò la popolazione europea.
In the fourteenth century, a terrible pestilence decimated the European population.
Gli abitanti abbandonarono la città per sfuggire alla pestilenza.
The inhabitants fled the city to escape the pestilence.
I cronisti medievali descrissero con orrore gli effetti di quella pestilenza.
Medieval chroniclers described the effects of that pestilence with horror.
Word forms (2)
| Word | Word forms |
|---|---|
| pestilenza | feminine · singular |
| pestilenze | feminine · plural |
Usage notes
- Literary: formal or historical; modern medicine uses 'epidemia' or 'pandemia'.
- Can also mean a foul stench in colloquial or regional speech ('che pestilenza!').