How do you use the word "scourge" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "scourge" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "scourge": Empowered, informed citizens are the scourge of any tyrant. Algeria should eradicate the terrorism scourge.

Scourge Meaning

/skɜːd͡ʒ/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA whip, often made of leather and having multiple tails; a lash.

nounA person or thing regarded as an agent of divine punishment.

Sentence Examples

Empowered, informed citizens are the scourge of any tyrant.

Algeria should eradicate the terrorism scourge.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

curse waste threat

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The Black Death was a terrible ____ that killed millions across Europe.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

Malaria was once the ____ of tropical regions, killing millions before effective treatments emerged.

Word Origin & History

From Middle English scourge (“a lash, whip, scourge; affliction, calamity; person who causes affliction or calamity; shoot of a vine”), and then either: * from Anglo-Norman scorge, escorge, escurge, or Old French scurge, escourge, escorge, escorgiee, escurge (modern French escourgée (“(archaic) whip made of leather strips”)), either: ** from Vulgar Latin *excoriāta (“strip of hide; a scourge”), from Late Latin excoriāre, the present active infinitive of excoriō (“to strip the skin from, to skin”), from Latin ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + corium (“skin; hide, leather”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off, sever; to divide, separate”)); or ** from Latin ex- (intensifying prefix) + corrigia (“a whip”) (from corrigō (“to make right, correct; to reform”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to righten; to straighten”)); or * from Middle English scourgen (verb) (see etymology 2). Cognates Italian scuriada, scuriata

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Yf they breake myne ordinaunces, and kepe not my commaundementes. I vil vyſet their offences with the rodde, and their ſynnes with ſcourges." — 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Psalm lxxxviij:[31–32], folio xxvij, verso, column 1:

"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." — 1609, The Holie Bible, […] (Douay–Rheims Bible), Doway: Laurence Kellam, […], →OCLC, 2 Paralipomenon 10:11, page 886:

"Up to coach then goes / Th' observed Maid, takes both the scourge and reins, / And to her side her handmaid straight attains." — 1614–1615, Homer, “The Sixth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 136, lines 111–113:

"[H]eaven-born truth, / And moderation fair, vvere the red marks / Of ſuperſtition's ſcourge: […]" — a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Winter”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 204, lines 1059–1061:

"Mortify / Your flesh, like me, with scourges and with thorns; / Smite, shrink not, spare not." — 1833 (date written), Alfred Tennyson, “St. Simeon Stylites”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 61:

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