black death

noun, often capitalized B&D

Definition of black death

1 : plague sense 2b

2 : a severe epidemic of plague and especially bubonic plague that occurred in Asia and Europe in the 14th century

Examples of black death in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that a black death row inmate in Mississippi should get a new trial after Evans engaged in unconstitutional racial discrimination when turning away black jurors from the panels. — Christina Maxouris, CNN, "A Mississippi district attorney kept turning away black jurors for trials, lawsuit says," 20 Nov. 2019 Overall numbers have declined in the last 20 years; in 1999, non-Hispanic black deaths per 100,000 were 337.4; in 2017, 208. — Nick Charles, NBC News, "Being black is still bad for your health," 19 Sep. 2019 Over a four-day period, hundreds of African Americans died, though the true number of black deaths has long been subject to debate, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. — Grace Hauck, USA TODAY, "Red Summer 1919: Tree memorializing black Americans killed in Elaine, Arkansas, cut down," 24 Aug. 2019 The Supreme Court will also make a decision on a case regarding jury selection bias, Flowers v. Mississippi, in which a black death row inmate was convicted and sentenced to death after the prosecutor dismissed five prospective jurors. — Grace Segers, CBS News, "Census question and gerrymandering among cases still to be decided by Supreme Court," 8 June 2019 Opening up and breaking the silence is a start, because white silence is black death. — Glamour, "Broken Harts, Episode 6: "Beautiful Black Boys"," 15 Jan. 2019 Unfortunately, the nation of 24 million has a point of infamy these days: The island nation is the site of the black death, the very same plague that decimated Europe many centuries ago. — Angela Helm, The Root, "124 Dead in Outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in Madagascar (We Kid You Not)," 25 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'black death.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Black death.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/black%20death. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.

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