The term pestilence has some application of use to generally describe
I have seen it used in reference to destruction of plants and crops by insects (or other vermin). But besides being a more generic term of something destructive, pestilence appears to be more focused on disease, as it's first definition is:
1: a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and
devastating
What I'm trying to find out is if there is a single word that refers to crop devastation by bugs (locusts, caterpillars, etc.) specifically; or optionally by a larger subset of vermin (including [small] mammals, birds, etc.).
To clarify, I'm not seeking a term for the actual vermin themselves, but the effects they have left behind upon the crops. So instead of saying "the crop was devastated by bugs" or "the crop was devastated by pestilence," I'm seeking a word that encapsulates in a single word the devastation idea along with the agents of the devastation being bugs (or vermin). "The crop was [single word]."
Best Answer
I think there isn't a single word that exactly covers this meaning but blight comes close.
It is actually a plant disease or the symptoms of that disease caused by pathogenic organisms (insects and fungus usually). But if you say blighted, you imply that crop is destroyed by blight.
Though, in agriculture and pestology, pest damage is used for describing the destruction of crops by any kind of pest.