scourge

More than 400,000 Americans died in the fighting to end the scourge of Nazi Germany and its allies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026

Black lung, that scourge of coal miners, had been identified in the mid-19th century but its cause, the inhalation of coal dust, did not come under federal oversight until 1969.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

A co-ordinated international naval response together with private security on commercial ships successfully drove down the scourge and contained a flare-up in 2023 and 2024.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

Cunningham proclaims herself as a warrior for “common sense” by fighting off a scourge that no one can see.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

“The Greatest Emperor, scourge of our enemies, commander of a host most devastating. And the Empire shall be made whole.”

From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir

The pair brainstormed an idea they would later pitch to OpenAI: using AI to design remedies against AI-enabled bioweapons, and cure other scourges along the way, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

Though we might assume Elmo is unencumbered by society’s scourges in the same way we are, it’s worth reminding ourselves that he’s partly assuming some of that baggage for us.

From Salon ● Feb. 3, 2024

Malaria kills mostly babies and infants, and has been one of the biggest scourges on humanity.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2023

Yet many scientists say the platform is effective and may be nimble enough to be used against an array of scourges, from flu to types of cancer.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 17, 2023

Searching for precedents, the foresters could remember other scourges of spider mites, though less dramatic than this one.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

He then revealed his "scourged back" as proof.

From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2022

Pope Francis, in 2013, said the shroud is an “icon of a man scourged and crucified.”

From Washington Times ● Feb. 24, 2022

The subject, from St. John’s Gospel, shows Pontius Pilate presenting the scourged and mocked Christ to the crowd.

From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2021

Diane Offutt, eyes squeezed shut, nodded amen, as did the girlfriend, while Kovler portrayed their man as industrious and responsible, not someone fitting the profile of a shooter in a metropolis scourged by hair-trigger mayhem.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 10, 2019

Their bulging eyes seemed to rebuke her stares, but what were the attentions of one girl, disturbing their rest, compared to how the world had scourged them since the day they were brought into it?

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

“The wildfires scourging Los Angeles these last few weeks have been a devastating humanitarian and natural disaster,” Sharpton said in a prepared statement.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 1, 2025

In 1869, the British critic Matthew Arnold observed that Protestant Americans had internalized Hebraism’s scourging demands for “conduct and obedience” and “strictness of conscience”:

From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2024

That has left innovation, with the exception of a few one-person shows, largely to small theaters in rural areas where the pandemic has been less scourging.

From New York Times ● Oct. 14, 2020

In awarding the Nobel to Mr. Fo, the Swedish Academy noted that he “emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.”

From Washington Post ● Oct. 13, 2016

They involved doing penance for a sin not yet committed, intense and fervent penance accompanied by scourging and flagellation, so as to build up, as it were, a store of credit.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman