as in plaguing
to spread or swarm over in a troublesome manner
in desperation, we called in an exterminator because the house was infested with ants
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of infesting
To prevent the New World Screwworm from infesting Florida, the state is blocking rescue dogs and cats coming from Texas and New Mexico.
—
Cbs Miami Team, CBS News, 12 June 2026
The moths infesting a pantry are not the same as moths hiding in your closet.
—Lauren Wicks, Southern Living, 13 May 2026
No one wants mice moving into their home or infesting their garden.
—Michelle Mastro, Martha Stewart, 9 May 2026
Spotted lanternflies have been infesting parts of the East Coast.
—Cate Martel, The Hill, 16 Oct. 2025
Quagga mussels and golden mussels, fingernail-sized invaders infesting California waterways, clog the water pumps and pipes responsible for distributing water to millions of people and vast stretches of farmland.
—Pam Marrone, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025
Aphids and Spider Mites These tiny, sap-sucking insects become more active in the fall, infesting flowering and fruiting plants.
—Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Sep. 2025
Cbs Miami Team, CBS News, 12 June 2026
The moths infesting a pantry are not the same as moths hiding in your closet.
—Lauren Wicks, Southern Living, 13 May 2026
No one wants mice moving into their home or infesting their garden.
—Michelle Mastro, Martha Stewart, 9 May 2026
Spotted lanternflies have been infesting parts of the East Coast.
—Cate Martel, The Hill, 16 Oct. 2025
Quagga mussels and golden mussels, fingernail-sized invaders infesting California waterways, clog the water pumps and pipes responsible for distributing water to millions of people and vast stretches of farmland.
—Pam Marrone, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025
Aphids and Spider Mites These tiny, sap-sucking insects become more active in the fall, infesting flowering and fruiting plants.
—Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for infesting
Verb
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For many years, both NASA and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos have struggled to contain persistent leaks plaguing the International Space Station.—
Victor Tangermann,
Futurism,
18 June 2026
-
His £55million move to Newcastle from Brentford last summer has proven disastrous so far, with injuries plaguing him and only three goals all season.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
17 June 2026
Verb
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For cybersecurity companies, identifying a digital agent crawling a website used to be enough evidence of malicious activity.—
Rachyl Jones,
semafor.com,
17 June 2026
-
The challenge, of course, is that cleaning baseboards often involves crawling around on hands and knees, a task few people are eager to do.—
Jamie Cuccinelli,
Martha Stewart,
13 June 2026
Verb
-
The credential-stealing function in the Miasma worm infecting the Microsoft packages was triggered as soon as a developer opened it in AI agents, including Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor, and VS Code.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
8 June 2026
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While the fly is capable of infecting humans and pets, such cases are rare and pose little risk to the broader public, according to experts.—
David Hickey,
NBC news,
4 June 2026
Verb
-
Homeless people overrunning the city.—
Deputy Managing Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
31 May 2026
-
The most basic natural method for keeping weeds from overrunning your pavers is manual removal.—
David Beaulieu,
The Spruce,
16 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Infesting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/infesting. Accessed 21 Jun. 2026.
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