pestilential.

1. Relating to or capable of spreading a severe epidemic disease.

2. Foul, noxious, or harmful in character.

3. Very troublesome or irritating.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• pestilential disease
• pestilential conditions

On the page

The chronicle described a pestilential disease.

The writer associated the crowded camp with pestilential conditions.

The historian explained the period’s pestilential imagery.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror. Forms: More pestilential; most pestilential where gradable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.