name · noun · 12 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
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
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/pɛst/
/pɛʃt/
rhymes with -ɛst
rhymes with -ɛʃt
homophone: pest
UK, US:/pɛst/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:P EH1 S T
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
name
Meaning 1
One of the originally three separate cities that were united in 1873 to become the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
name
Meaning 2
The corresponding part of the current-day city of Budapest, on the eastern side of the Danube.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
name
Meaning 3
A county in central Hungary, surrounding Budapest.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
A pestilence, i.e. a deadly epidemic, a deadly plague.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
Any destructive insect that attacks crops or livestock; an agricultural pest.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
An annoying person, a nuisance.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
noun
Meaning 7
An animal regarded as a nuisance, destructive, or a parasite, vermin.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
An invasive weed.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
9
noun
Meaning 9
any unwanted and destructive insect or other animal that attacks food or crops or livestock etc.
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
he sprayed the garden to get rid of pests
many pests have developed resistance to the common pesticides
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: blighter, cuss, pesterer, gadfly
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: tormentor, tormenter, persecutor
Narrower terms: nudnik, nudnick
11
noun
Meaning 11
any epidemic disease with a high death rate
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: plague, pestilence
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: epidemic disease
12
noun
Meaning 12
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
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
From Hungarian Pest, ultimately from Old Church Slavonic пещь (peštĭ, “furnace, oven”). Compare German Ofen (“Buda”, literally “oven”).
In the 16th century in the sense of "pestilence" and specifically bubonic plague from Middle French peste (“pestilence”) (whence French peste). The other meanings are recorded soon after. Ultimately from Latin pestis.
Across languages
Translations
116 source translations are retained for this English entry.
German:
Pest
— area of Budapest — see also Budapest
Hungarian:
Pest
— area of Budapest — see also Budapest
Marathi:
पेश्त
(peśta)
— area of Budapest — see also Budapest
Polish:
Pest
— area of Budapest — see also Budapest
Turkish:
Peşte
— area of Budapest — see also Budapest
Ottoman Turkish:
پشته
(Peşte)
— area of Budapest — see also Budapest
Hungarian:
Pest
— county
Polish:
Pest
— county
Bulgarian:
чума
(čuma)
— plague
Catalan:
pesta
— plague
Catalan:
plaga
— plague
Cornish:
pla
— plague
Cornish:
plag
— plague
Danish:
pest
— plague
Dutch:
pest
— plague
Dutch:
plaag
— plague
French:
peste
— plague
German:
Seuche
— plague
German:
Pest
— plague
Greek:
πανούκλα
(panoúkla)
— plague
Greek:
μάστιγα
(mástiga)
— plague
Greek:
πληγή
(pligí)
— plague
Greek:
λοιμός
(loimós)
— plague
Indonesian:
pes
— plague
Irish:
plá
— plague
Macedonian:
чу́ма
(čúma)
— plague
Polish:
plaga
— plague
Polish:
zaraza
— plague
Polish:
epidemia
— plague
Portuguese:
peste
— plague
Romanian:
pestă
— plague
Russian:
чума́
(čumá)
— plague
Russian:
мор
(mor)
— plague
Scottish Gaelic:
plàigh
— plague
Spanish:
peste
— plague
Spanish:
pestilencia
— plague
Swedish:
pest
— plague
Tagalog:
angol
— plague
Tagalog:
taping
— plague
Ottoman Turkish:
طاعون
(taʼun)
— plague
Ottoman Turkish:
خستهلق
(hastalık)
— plague
Walloon:
pesse
— plague
Armenian:
վնասատու
(vnasatu)
— destructive insect
Armenian:
վնասատու կենդանի
(vnasatu kendani)
— destructive insect