plague, pestilence, pest, pestis -- (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)
plague, pestilence, pest -- (any epidemic disease with a high death rate)
pestilence, canker -- (a 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")