Scourge

/skɜːd͡ʒ/ · noun

Meaning

(weaponry, chiefly historical) A whip, often made of leather and having multiple tails; a lash..

Definitions by Sense

1. (weaponry, chiefly historical) A whip, often made of leather and having multiple tails; a lash.
2. A person or thing regarded as an agent of divine punishment.
3. A source of persistent (and often widespread) pain and suffering or trouble, such as a cruel ruler, disease, pestilence, or war.
4. To strike (a person, an animal, etc.) with a scourge (noun etymology 1 sense 1) or whip; to flog, to whip.
5. To drive, or force (a person, an animal, etc.) to move, with or as if with a scourge or whip.
6. To punish (a person, an animal, etc.); to chastise.
7. To cause (someone or something) persistent (and often widespread) pain and suffering or trouble; to afflict, to torment.
8. Of a crop or a farmer: to deplete the fertility of (land or soil).

Example Sentences

He flogged him with a scourge.

Yf they breake myne ordinaunces, and kepe not my commaundementes. I vil vyſet their offences with the rodde, and their ſynnes with ſcourges.

My father layd vpon you a heauie yoke, vvhich I vvil make heauier: my father bette you vvith ſcourges, but I vvil beate you vvith ſcorpions.

Up to coach then goes / Th' observed Maid, takes both the scourge and reins, / And to her side her handmaid straight attains.

[H]eaven-born truth, / And moderation fair, vvere the red marks / Of ſuperſtition's ſcourge: […]

Mortify / Your flesh, like me, with scourges and with thorns; / Smite, shrink not, spare not.

Another strange manifestation of collective mental abnormality, though not directly connected with sorcery, was the Brotherhood of Flagellants. […] These men lashed themselves and each other unmercifully with knotted leather scourges until the blood ran, two or three times daily.

And therfore the faithfull had neede of inuincible conſtancie and incredible pacience, that they may know them to be gods squorges, and the inſtrumentes of his wrath, […]

Synonyms for scourge

Antonyms for scourge

Related Words

Word Forms

• scourges
• scourging
• scourged
• no-table-tags
• glossary
• scourge
• scourgest
• scourgedst
• scourgeth
• -

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

Practice and Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions