Library / English Dictionary

SCOURGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A whip used to inflict punishment (often used for pedantic humor)

Synonyms:

flagellum; scourge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("scourge" is a kind of...):

whip (an instrument with a handle and a flexible lash that is used for whipping)

Derivation:

scourge (whip)

scourge (punish severely; excoriate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A person who inspires fear or dread

Example:

he was the terror of the neighborhood

Synonyms:

scourge; terror; threat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("scourge" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Something causing misery or death

Example:

the bane of my life

Synonyms:

bane; curse; nemesis; scourge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("scourge" is a kind of...):

affliction (a cause of great suffering and distress)

Derivation:

scourge (cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly

Example:

The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion

Synonyms:

desolate; devastate; lay waste to; ravage; scourge; waste

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "scourge" is one way to...):

destroy; ruin (destroy completely; damage irreparably)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scourge"):

ruin (reduce to ruins)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

scourge (something causing misery or death)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Whip

Example:

The religious fanatics flagellated themselves

Synonyms:

flagellate; scourge

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "scourge" is one way to...):

flog; lash; lather; slash; strap; trounce; welt; whip (beat severely with a whip or rod)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

scourge (a whip used to inflict punishment (often used for pedantic humor))

scourger (a torturer who flogs or scourges (especially an official whose duty is to whip offenders))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Punish severely; excoriate

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "scourge" is one way to...):

penalise; penalize; punish (impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

scourge (a whip used to inflict punishment (often used for pedantic humor))

scourger (a torturer who flogs or scourges (especially an official whose duty is to whip offenders))

Credits

 Context examples: 

This chanced to come to Simon's ears when we were at Bordeaux together, and he would have it that we should ride to Cardillac with a good hempen cord, and give this Gourval such a scourging as he merited.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As it stands, not one farthing shall you have with my free will, and when I see my brother, the Socman of Minstead, he will raise hue and cry from vill to vill, from hundred to hundred, until you are taken as a common robber and a scourge to the country.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)