Open English Wordnet
Nouns
(n)plague, pestilence, pest, pestisa 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
(n)pestilence, cankera pernicious and malign influence that is hard to get rid of“racism is a pestilence at the heart of the nation”, “according to him, I was the canker in their midst”