Apedia

Plaguey Adjective Word Meaning Play Ghee Causing Irritation Annoyance

Plaguey means causing irritation or annoyance; troublesome.

Plaguey means causing irritation or annoyance; troublesome.

Front plaguey \PLAY-ghee\
Back adjective
Causing irritation or annoyance; troublesome.

[Plagues have, well, "plagued" humanity for centuries. One sense of the word "plague," referring to a deadly fever transmitted from rodents to humans by way of infected fleas, was all too familiar to English speakers in the late 16th century. That's when the word "plaguey" first appeared on the scene as an adjective describing something relating, literally or figuratively, to a plague. The fact that "plaguey" developed its "annoying" meaning by the end of that same century suggests just how familiar, and troublesome, the disease was in those days. "Plaguey" is also sometimes used as an adverb meaning "irritatingly," as in "it is plaguey cold." (The form "plaguily" is occasionally seen as well, with the same meaning.)]

"What about monks? What about those stories I read as a boy featuring solitary genius inventors, working away at their crazy later-famous tasks, uninterrupted by plaguey human contact?"

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