infestation

UK/ˌɪnfɛsˈteɪ̯ʃən/US/ˌɪnfɛsˈteɪ̯ʃən/

nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,600 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: infestations

An infestation is an overrunning of a place by pests. A moth infestation.

It is the numbers rather than the creature that make it one, since a single mouse is not an infestation. Any infestation is easier to stop early, which is why the first one is worth acting on.

Definitions of infestation

1nouninfestationAn overrunning of a place by pests.C1
“The infestation had been in the roof for two years before anybody looked.”

infestation is an overrunning.

Where it comes from

Latin infestatio comes from infestare, to attack or trouble, from infestus, hostile.

Latin
infestatio
Middle French
infestation
English, today
infestation

From Middle French infestation, from Latin infestatio. Morphologically infest + ation.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

infestation in the wild

Scabies (, SKAY-beez; also sometimes known as the seven-year itch) is a contagious human skin infestation by the tiny mite Sarcoptes scabiei, variety hominis.
Scabies
Although flies are most commonly attracted to open wounds and urine- or feces-soaked fur, some species can create an infestation even on unbroken skin.
Myiasis
The Hunter Valley cannabis outbreak was an infestation of Cannabis sativa plants in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, Australia, in the 1960s.
Hunter Valley cannabis infestation
Washing bedding and clothing in hot water kills the lice, and transmission can be prevented by avoiding sexual contact until no signs of infestation exist.
Pediculosis pubis

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

infest

← Vocabulary