scourge

Fetched 2026-10-27 (live).

Synonyms: scourse, scourage, courge, scourie

Antonyms: scourse, scourage, courge, scourie

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Noun

1. A whip, often made of leather and having multiple tails; a lash.
   • He flogged him with a scourge.
2. A person or thing regarded as an agent of divine punishment. A source of persistent (and often widespread) pain and suffering or trouble, such as a cruel ruler, disease, pestilence, or war.
   • Graffiti is the scourge of building owners everywhere.
3. A person or thing regarded as an agent of divine punishment.
4. A source of persistent (and often widespread) pain and suffering or trouble, such as a cruel ruler, disease, pestilence, or war.
   • Graffiti is the scourge of building owners everywhere.

Verb

1. To strike (a person, an animal, etc.) with a scourge (noun etymology 1 sense 1) or whip; to flog, to whip.
2. To drive, or force (a person, an animal, etc.) to move, with or as if with a scourge or whip.
3. To punish (a person, an animal, etc.); to chastise. To cause (someone or something) persistent (and often widespread) pain and suffering or trouble; to afflict, to torment. Of a crop or a farmer: to deplete the fertility of (land or soil).
4. To punish (a person, an animal, etc.); to chastise.
5. To cause (someone or something) persistent (and often widespread) pain and suffering or trouble; to afflict, to torment.
6. Of a crop or a farmer: to deplete the fertility of (land or soil).

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wiktionary) · cached copy, not a rewrite.