infesting

verb

present participle of infest
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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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of infesting Good property maintenance and natural and safe methods can get rid of chiggers and prevent them from infesting your space. — Barbara Gillette, The Spruce, 22 July 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for infesting
  1. plaguing
  2. crawling
  3. infecting
  4. overrunning
Verb
  • The 21 states fully running their own marketplaces generally have more robust fraud prevention programs, such as multifactor authentication, and have reported few or none of the kinds of unauthorized sign-ups plaguing the federal marketplace.
    — Julie Appleby, Miami Herald, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The 21 states fully running their own marketplaces generally have more robust fraud prevention programs and have reported few or none of the kinds of unauthorized sign-ups plaguing the federal marketplace.
    — Julie Appleby, NPR, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of plaguing
Verb
  • Prior to then, traffic was seen crawling on the eastbound side of the bridge heading into the city.
    — Jeff Capellini, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026
  • At the hospital, an insect fell from the girl’s shoe, and a staffer saw a cockroach crawling on her, the district attorney’s office said.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of crawling
Verb
  • Produced by Yara Goubran) When a mysterious epidemic begins infecting women in a remote fishing village, fear quickly turns the community against them.
    — Essie Assibu, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Eventually, the capability could enable computer worms, which propagate without requiring human interaction and are capable of infecting unfamiliar IoT devices.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of infecting
Verb
  • Bots are overrunning the web, with some executives forecasting a world in which autonomous traffic outnumbers human internet searchers 1,000-to-1.
    — Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 6 Oct. 2026
  • While the cause of Sunday’s crash is still under investigation, Miami International Airport lacks a key safety feature that might have prevented the aircraft from overrunning the airport property and reaching a roadway, aviation experts said.
    — Maria Aguilar Prieto, CNN Money, 7 Sep. 2026
Definition of overrunning

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Cite this Entry

“Infesting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/infesting. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

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