different between misfortune vs pestilence

English

Etymology

mis- +? fortune

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /m?s?f??t??n/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /m?s?f??t?u?n/

Noun

misfortune (countable and uncountable, plural misfortunes)

1. (uncountable) Bad luck.
   • 2012, July 15. Richard Williams in Guardian Unlimited, Tour de France 2012: Carpet tacks cannot force Bradley Wiggins off track

     Cycling's complex etiquette contains an unwritten rule that riders in contention for a race win should not be penalised for sheer misfortune.

   The worst tour I have ever had the misfortune to experience.

   It was my fortune, or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training. - Ulysses S. Grant

2. (countable) an undesirable event such as an accident
   • 1839, Charles Robert Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle., Chapter X

     The snowstorm, which was the cause of their misfortune, happened in the middle of January, corresponding to our July, and in the latitude of Durham!

   She had to come to terms with a number of misfortunes.

Synonyms

• (bad luck): mishap, misluck, mischance, ill luck, hard luck, tough luck, luckless
• (undesirable event): adversity, nakba

Antonyms

• (bad luck): luck, good luck, fortune, good fortune
• (undesirable event): fortuity

Related terms

• misfortunate

Translations

Anagrams

• uniformest

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin pestilentia (“plague”), from pestilens (“infected, unwholesome, noxious”); see pestilent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?st?l?n(t)s/, /?p?st?l?n(t)s/, /?p?stl?n(t)s/

Noun

pestilence (countable and uncountable, plural pestilences)

1. Any epidemic disease that is highly contagious, infectious, virulent and devastating.
   • 1826, Mary Shelley, The Last Man, part 2, chapter 2

     "Take it, Christian dogs? take the palaces, the gardens, the mosques, the abode of our fathers - take plague with them; pestilence is the enemy we fly; if she be your friend, hug her to your bosoms. The curse of Allah is on Stamboul, share ye her fate?"

   • 1949 - Bruce Kiskaddon, George R. Stewart, Earth Abides

     The snowshoe-rabbits build up through the years until they reach a climax when they seem to be everywhere; then with dramatic suddenness their pestilence falls upon them.

2. (archaic) Anything harmful to morals or public order.

Related terms

• pest
• pesticide
• pestilent

Translations

Further reading

• pestilence in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• pestilence in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

French

Etymology

From Old French pestilence, borrowed from Latin pestilentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p?s.ti.l??s/

Noun

pestilence f (plural pestilences)

1. (archaic or literary) pest epidemic; pestilence
2. extremely foul smell

   Synonyms: infection, puanteur

Derived terms

• pestilentiel

References

• “pestilence” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Noun

pestilence f (oblique plural pestilences, nominative singular pestilence, nominative plural pestilences)

1. pestilence (epidemic disease)