Synonyms of scourges

scourges 1 of 2

noun

plural of scourge

1

as in whips

a long thin or flexible tool for striking

the museum display included a scourge, thumbscrews, and other notorious instruments of torture

Synonyms & Similar Words

• whips
• straps
• canes
• batons
• floggers
• lashes
• switches
• crops
• bats
• quirts
• birches
• bullwhips
• rattans
• hickories
• knouts
• bludgeons
• flails
• cudgels
• blacksnakes
• cowhides
• rawhides
• nightsticks
• billies
• staffs
• cat-o'-nine-tails
• billy clubs
• bastinadoes
• clubs

2

as in nemeses

one who inflicts punishment in return for an injury or offense

the attorney general, who just happens to be a candidate for governor, is a self-proclaimed scourge of organized crime

Synonyms & Similar Words

• nemeses
• vigilantes
• punishers
• avengers
• chastisers
• castigators
• revengers
• righters
• redressers
• requiters

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• redeemers
• vindicators
• ransomers

3

as in curses

a source of harm or misfortune

the sheer ubiquity of food is proving to be the scourge of humanity, as evidenced by the obesity epidemic

Synonyms & Similar Words

• curses
• threats
• banes
• nemeses
• menaces
• afflictions
• dangers
• risks
• perils
• hazards
• troubles
• snags
• pitfalls
• jinxes
• hoodoos
• booby traps
• catches
• hexes

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• benefits
• goods
• advantages
• blessings
• gifts
• windfalls
• aids
• help
• boons
• supports
• reliefs
• felicities
• comforts
• consolations
• godsends
• joys
• pleasures
• assistances
• delights
• mannas
• shields
• defenses
• securities
• safeguards
• solaces
• protections
• guards
• safeties
• armors

scourges

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of scourge

1

as in ravages

to bring destruction to (something) through violent action

barbarians scourged the countryside, leaving village after village burned to the ground

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ravages
• destroys
• devastates
• ruins
• plunders
• desolates
• wrecks
• despoils
• strips
• forays
• sacks
• eradicates
• pillages
• loots
• wracks
• harries
• extirpates
• overwhelms
• obliterates
• nukes
• shatters
• expunges
• vaporizes
• wastes
• wipes out
• annihilates
• totals
• decimates
• smashes
• marauds
• mows
• extinguishes
• demolishes
• rubs out
• overruns
• razes
• overthrows
• overpowers
• crushes

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• redeems
• repairs
• restores
• recovers
• fixes
• rehabilitates
• mends
• reconditions
• patches
• revamps

2

as in hides

to strike repeatedly with something long and thin or flexible

scourge the tree with a whip to loosen the bark

Synonyms & Similar Words

• whips
• hides
• slashes
• lashes
• flicks
• flails
• cuts
• switches
• flagellates
• tans
• leathers
• hits
• slaps
• flogs
• whales
• spanks
• thrashes
• bats
• knocks
• bangs
• punches
• licks
• horsewhips
• mauls
• smacks
• straps
• pounds
• whacks
• clips
• birches
• cowhides
• swipes
• canes
• beats
• boxes
• rawhides
• clubs
• swats
• quirts
• claps
• thumps
• smites
• clouts
• cudgels
• socks
• pelts
• knouts
• slugs
• thwacks
• cracks
• touches up
• hammers
• threshes
• bludgeons
• bashes
• buffets
• cuffs
• belts
• lams
• slates
• pastes
• paddles
• batters
• busts
• fustigates
• wallops
• roughs
• bops
• pummels
• bastes
• clobbers
• laces
• works over
• slogs
• belabors
• lambastes
• blackjacks
• lathers
• drubs
• pistol-whips
• mangles
• fibs
• whups
• pommels
• tromps
• bungs
• whops

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of scourges

Noun

For more than a decade, YouTube has faced its fair share of scourges, including accusations of radicalizing users or harming their mental well-being. — Danielle Chemtob, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026

Greenhouses provide protection from scourges like tomato blight, which ravages otherwise beautiful crops in areas with cool, rainy weather. — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Kansas City Star, 1 Apr. 2026

Measles, among the most contagious diseases, is typically the first to infect undervaccinated communities and serves as a warning that other scourges will follow. — Patricia Callahan, ProPublica, 19 Mar. 2026

What the novel is working toward is not the exposure of a violation, let alone the processing of any real-life event, but a recognition of the self—a self who survives the scourges of childhood, and a storytelling-self who learns that fiction can reveal otherwise unsayable truths. — Honor Jones, The Atlantic, 3 Mar. 2026

With new funding, America can continue to lead the historic effort to eliminate ancient scourges. — Stewart Simonson, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2026

The administration abruptly halted USAID's global health work, which had saved millions of lives from scourges like AIDS, malaria and malnutrition over the course of six decades. — Npr Staff, NPR, 23 Jan. 2026

At the film’s outset, Inez kidnaps her young son Terry from foster care shortly after her release from prison, and A Thousand and One chronicles her attempt to parent despite the scourges of abuse, police brutality and systemic racism. — Emma Specter, Vogue, 18 Oct. 2025

First each member, in turn, would prostrate himself while the others, marching in a circle, stepped over him and struck him with their scourges. — Michael Robbins, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025

Verb

An expensive dollar also scourges industries that compete with imports. — Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 31 May 2026