pest

Meanings

• a serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal
• any epidemic disease with a high death rate
• a persistently annoying person
• 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"

Synonyms

blighter, cuss, gadfly, pesterer, pestilence, pestis, plague