scourge — OET

scourge

noun

1 historical he was beaten with a scourge:

whip, horsewhip, lash, strap, birch, switch, flail;

North American bullwhip, rawhide;

historical cat-o'-nine-tails, knout;

rare flagellum, quirt, blacksnake.

2 inflation was the scourge of the mid-1970s | the scourge of war:

affliction, bane, curse, plague, menace, evil, misfortune, burden, cross to bear, thorn in one's flesh/side, bitter pill, trial, nuisance, pest;

torment, torture, misery, suffering;

blight, cancer, canker;

punishment, penalty, visitation.

▷antonyms blessing, godsend.

verb

1 historical he was publicly scourged:

flog, whip, beat, horsewhip, lash, flagellate, flail, strap, birch, cane, thrash, belt, leather;

North American bullwhip;

informal give someone a hiding, tan someone's hide, lather, take a strap to, beat the living daylights out of;

North American, informal whale;

archaic switch, stripe, thong;

rare quirt.

2 scurvy was a disease which scourged the English for centuries:

afflict, plague, torment, torture, curse, cause suffering to, oppress, burden, bedevil, beset;

devastate;

punish.

scourge Oxford Dictionary of English