adj
Meaning 1
Mischievous; hurtful; harassing.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
infest
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ɪnˈfɛst/
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Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛst
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CMU ARPABET: IH2 N F EH1 S T Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
Hostility.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, uncountable
Examples
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book II, Canto Eleven, Stanza 32, Hackett, 2006, p. 191, Like as a fire, the which in hollow cave Hath long bene underkept, and down supprest, With murmurous disdayne doth inly rave, And grudge, in so streight prison to be prest, At last breakes forth with furious infest, And strives to mount unto his native seat [...]
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To inhabit a place in unpleasantly large numbers; to plague, harass.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
Examples
- Insects are infesting my basement!
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To invade a host plant or animal.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
invade in great numbers
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the roaches infested our kitchen
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: overrun
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: invade, occupy
verb
Meaning 6
live on or in a host, as of parasites
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: inhabit
verb
Meaning 7
occupy in large numbers or live on a host
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the Kudzu plant infests much of the South and is spreading to the North
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: invade, overrun
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: inhabit
History
Etymology
From Middle English infesten, from Old French infester (“to infest”), from Latin īnfestō (“assail, molest”, verb), from īnfestus (“hostile”), of uncertain origin.
Across languages
Translations
14 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: гъмжа (gǎmža) — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Czech: zamořit — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Galician: infestar — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- German: befallen — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Hungarian: ellep — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Hungarian: eláraszt — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Hungarian: elszaporodik — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Hungarian: nyüzsög — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Hungarian: hemzseg — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Māori: mui — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Māori: pokipoki — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Portuguese: infestar — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Slovak: zamoriť — to inhabit a place in large numbers
- Yiddish: פֿאַרשרצן (farsheretsn) — to inhabit a place in large numbers