| / English Dictionary |
PEST
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Any unwanted and destructive insect or other animal that attacks food or crops or livestock etc.
Example:
many pests have developed resistance to the common pesticides
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("pest" is a kind of...):
animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna (a living organism characterized by voluntary movement)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pest"):
vermin (any of various small animals or insects that are pests; e.g. cockroaches or rats)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A persistently annoying person
Synonyms:
blighter; cuss; gadfly; pest; pesterer
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("pest" is a kind of...):
persecutor; tormenter; tormentor (someone who torments)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pest"):
nudnick; nudnik ((Yiddish) someone who is a boring pest)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Any epidemic disease with a high death rate
Synonyms:
pest; pestilence; plague
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("pest" is a kind of...):
epidemic disease (any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people)
Sense 4
Meaning:
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
Synonyms:
pest; pestilence; pestis; plague
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("pest" is a kind of...):
epidemic disease (any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pest"):
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)
Context examples:
Scientists over the years have modified the genetics of soybeans, corn, canola and other crop plants to develop varieties that tolerate specific herbicides and resist insect pests.
(Innovative Approach to Breeding Could Mean Higher Yields and Better Crops, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)
That's as much as drought or flooding, or any single pest or disease, but ozone is a relatively unstudied component of yield loss, according to the biologists.
(Study finds rising ozone a hidden threat to corn, National Science Foundation)
Pests live where they are not wanted or cause harm to crops, people, or animals.
(Pesticides, Environmental Protection Agency)
The grafting technique is also used to protect plants against pests, which decreases the need for expensive pesticides.
(Grafting helps pepper plants deal with drought, SciDev.Net)
Scientists undertook this large project to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underpin the peanut plant’s growth and development, as well as the expression of desirable traits, like high seed yield, improved oil quality and resistance to costly diseases and pests such as root knot nematodes.
(Peanut Genome Sequenced with Unprecedent Accuracy, U.S. Department of Agriculture)
She became a pest to him, like a policeman following him around the stable and the hounds, and, if he even so much as glanced curiously at a pigeon or chicken, bursting into an outcry of indignation and wrath.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Researchers have now looked at the genomes of all seven watermelon species, creating a resource that could help plant breeders find wild watermelon genes that offer resistance to pests, diseases, drought and other hardships, and improve fruit quality.
(Harvesting genes to improve watermelons, National Science Foundation)
The research may help in the creation of genetically altered seaweeds that could be used as crops, assist in predicting the spread of seaweed pests, and – as climate warms and pollution possibly increases – control invasive seaweeds that blanket shorelines.
(Red seaweeds, including those in sushi, thrive despite ancestor's loss of genes, National Science Foundation)
I had before been moved by the sophisms of the being I had created; I had been struck senseless by his fiendish threats; but now, for the first time, the wickedness of my promise burst upon me; I shuddered to think that future ages might curse me as their pest, whose selfishness had not hesitated to buy its own peace at the price, perhaps, of the existence of the whole human race.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Any chemical substance, biological agent or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest, including insects, plant pathogens, weeds, mollusks, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes (roundworms) and microbes that compete with humans for food, destroy property, spread or are a vector for disease or are a nuisance.
(Pesticide, NCI Thesaurus)
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