infested; infesting; infests
1
: to spread or swarm in or over in a troublesome manner
a slum infested with crime
shark-infested waters
2
: to live in or on as a parasite
Examples of infest in a Sentence
in desperation, we called in an exterminator because the house was infested with ants
Recent Examples on the Web
This includes eliminating the mice, rats and cockroaches that infest their units.
—
Noelle Alviz-Gransee, Kansas City Star, 3 May 2024
Until recently, no pests really bothered it, but as it's related to ash, don't plant it in areas infested by the emerald ash borer.
—Steve Bender, Southern Living, 3 May 2024
Could eukaryotes’ tendency toward expansion be linked to the transposable elements — the leaping, self-duplicating bits of DNA — that have infested eukaryotic genomes for eons?
—Quanta Magazine, 2 May 2024
And a woman told a citizen scientist that cockroaches infested her pantry after totality.
—Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Apr. 2024
Rats infesting the New Orleans Police Department headquarters are getting high off of marijuana from the evidence room, authorities said Monday.
—Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY, 13 Mar. 2024
Bush honeysuckle is one of the most common invasive plants in Indiana infesting thousands of acres in the state.
—Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 28 Mar. 2024
The language has also been infested by American slang.
—Molly Young, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2024
All told, about 30% of Ukraine’s territory is infested with land mines, an area roughly equivalent to the state of Florida.
—Elizabeth Both, NBC News, 20 Feb. 2024
Noelle Alviz-Gransee, Kansas City Star, 3 May 2024
Until recently, no pests really bothered it, but as it's related to ash, don't plant it in areas infested by the emerald ash borer.
—Steve Bender, Southern Living, 3 May 2024
Could eukaryotes’ tendency toward expansion be linked to the transposable elements — the leaping, self-duplicating bits of DNA — that have infested eukaryotic genomes for eons?
—Quanta Magazine, 2 May 2024
And a woman told a citizen scientist that cockroaches infested her pantry after totality.
—Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Apr. 2024
Rats infesting the New Orleans Police Department headquarters are getting high off of marijuana from the evidence room, authorities said Monday.
—Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY, 13 Mar. 2024
Bush honeysuckle is one of the most common invasive plants in Indiana infesting thousands of acres in the state.
—Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 28 Mar. 2024
The language has also been infested by American slang.
—Molly Young, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2024
All told, about 30% of Ukraine’s territory is infested with land mines, an area roughly equivalent to the state of Florida.
—Elizabeth Both, NBC News, 20 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'infest.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near infest
Cite this Entry
“Infest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/infest. Accessed 10 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
infest
verb
in·fest
in-ˈfest 
1
: to spread or swarm in or over in a troublesome manner
a neighborhood infested with crime
shark-infested waters
2
: to live in or on as a parasite
horses infested with worms
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