Meaning & use

Black Death

proper noun·Academic

A devastating outbreak of bubonic plague that swept across Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s, killing a large portion of the population.

See it in a sentence

Historians estimate the Black Death killed roughly a third of Europe's population in just a few years.

Trade routes across Asia and Europe helped spread the Black Death rapidly during the fourteenth century.

A note on using this word

The Black Death is the historical name most commonly used for this specific fourteenth-century pandemic, distinct from later plague outbreaks.

Words with a similar meaning

bubonic plague

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