epidemic

adjective

ep·i·dem·ic | \ ˌe-pə-ˈde-mik

Definition of epidemic

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time typhoid was epidemic

2a : excessively prevalent

b : contagious sense 4 epidemic laughter

3 : characterized by very widespread growth or extent : of, relating to, or constituting an epidemic the practice had reached epidemic proportions

epidemic

noun

ep·i·dem·ic | \ ˌe-pə-ˈde-mik

Definition of epidemic (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : an outbreak of disease that spreads quickly and affects many individuals at the same time : an outbreak of epidemic disease

2 : an outbreak or product of sudden rapid spread, growth, or development an epidemic of bankruptcies

Other Words from epidemic Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about epidemic

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Other Words from epidemic

Adjective

epidemical \ ˌe-pə-ˈde-mi-kəl

\ adjective

epidemically \ ˌe-pə-ˈde-mi-k(ə-)lē

\ adverb

epidemicity \ ˌe-pə-də-ˈmi-sə-tē

\ noun

Examples of epidemic in a Sentence

Adjective

Overuse injuries—particularly in the elbows and shoulders of young pitchers—are indeed becoming epidemic. Orthopedists often blame coaches and parents for failing to monitor how many pitches kids are throwing and for not giving them time to rest their arms. — Sara Corbett, New York Times Sports Magazine, June 2006 The dream of running off to live the good life in a postcard perfect town in the mountains or by the sea often reaches epidemic proportions near the end of summer. — John Rasmus, National Geographic, September 2004 Saturday Night Fever propelled disco fever to epidemic proportions: By 1978, 40 percent of all the music on Billboard's Hot 100 was disco. — Peter Braunstein, American Heritage, November 1999 the little girl's giggles were epidemic, and soon the entire gathering was laughing

Noun

Cosmetic surgery is now so prevalent that it could qualify as a national epidemic. — Toni Bentley, New York Times Book Review, 22 Oct. 2006 "Spim," as people are beginning to call unsolicited instant messages, is the latest installment in the growing epidemic of unwanted electronic ads and a further sign that unscrupulous online marketers will seek to take advantage of all of the Internet's communication tools, not limiting themselves to spam or pop-up ads. — David McGuire, www.washingtonpost.com, 13 Nov. 2003 Whatever might have motivated Kennedy to put [Ian] Fleming on his list, from that point, Bond became an international obsession. When the first Bond film appeared in 1962—Dr. No—the obsession was a full-blown craze, a cultural epidemic. — Gerald Early, New Letters, 1999

Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective

Some world leaders have backed a plan first proposed by then-German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to create a multinational white helmet brigade that could provide security and logistical dimensions to an epidemic response. — Ron Klain, Vox, "A pandemic killing tens of millions of people is a real possibility — and we are not prepared for it," 15 Oct. 2018 And only heightened by the fact that STD rates are at an all-time high, there's no doubt that opening up the biological treatment to a wider range of women is a major stride for a health concern that's approaching epidemic proportions. — Lauren Valenti, Vogue, "The HPV Vaccine is Now Available to Women Over 27—Here’s Why It’s Great News for You," 8 Oct. 2018 Wochit As Marion County sees its hepatitis C rate soar to epidemic proportions, local health officials Thursday called for the county to start the state’s eighth syringe exchange program. — Shari Rudavsky, Indianapolis Star, "Marion County could get needle exchange program, as hepatitis C rates soar," 17 May 2018 Broward, like many other local governments across the country, is suing or considering suing the companies because of the large costs incurred as the opioid epidemic taxes local police and emergency medical services. — Larry Barszewski, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Broward sues over opioids, including Walmart, Walgreens and CVS," 15 Mar. 2018 In 2016, the World Health Organization added Lassa fever to its list of priority pathogens of epidemic potential, calling for more research. — Leslie Roberts, Science | AAAS, "Health workers scramble to contain deadly rat-borne fever in Nigeria," 12 Mar. 2018 But, the study authors, led by microbiologist Robert Britton at Baylor College of Medicine, found that the two epidemic strains had genetic tricks to live on just tiny amounts. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Mysterious explosion of a deadly plague may come down to a sugar in ice cream," 10 Jan. 2018 Cunningham worked as an epidemic intelligence officer and has been deployed for a number public health emergencies. — Paula Rogo, Essence.com, "This CDC Employee Has Been Missing For Almost Two Weeks," 26 Feb. 2018 The flu is on its way out. While still at epidemic levels, the historically bad 2017-2018 season has finally started to subside. — Fortune, "America's Nightmare Flu Season Is Finally Coming to an End," 24 Feb. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The opioid epidemic is a truly massive drug overdose and addiction crisis. — German Lopez, Vox, "Trump just signed a bipartisan bill to confront the opioid epidemic," 24 Oct. 2018 The firm contends America's opioid epidemic is to blame for more than a tripling of overdose deaths, from 15,000 in 2009 to 53,000 in 2016. — Dennis Wagner, azcentral, "Opioid epidemic: Arizona cities, counties join huge federal suit against pain-med makers," 30 June 2018 The opioid epidemic is the major cause of the surge, the agency says. — Mark Curnutte, Cincinnati.com, "Girl who lost parents to heroin starts over: `I want a family'," 27 June 2018 Trauma is new to the nation’s social and economic debate because the metrics that document the epidemic also are new. — John Schmid, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Trauma reaches beyond urban centers like Milwaukee, speaker says. Just look at border fiasco.," 20 June 2018 If this epidemic is contained, the world should learn the lesson. — The Economist, "How to contain an Ebola outbreak," 24 May 2018 That is a problem because the main thing that’s going to control this epidemic is the traditional way of dealing with Ebola. — Helen Branswell, STAT, "Excitement over use of Ebola vaccine in outbreak tempered by real-world challenges," 23 May 2018 Nobody really talked about the rural opioid crisis in 1978; the epidemic was never really identified until the late 1990s. — Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, "In the old-school 'Buried Child,' Sam Shepard understood what still pains Illinois," 17 May 2018 The opioid epidemic is the public health crisis of our time. . . — Bill Myers, Chicago Reader, "Officials hope much-hyped drug can slow state's opioid crisis, but is it worth the costs?," 16 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'epidemic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for epidemic

Adjective

borrowed from French épidémique, going back to Middle French, from epidemie "disease affecting a large number of individuals" + -ique -ic entry 1; Middle French epidemie, earlier epydimie, borrowed from Medieval Latin epidēmia, derivative (from feminine singular or neuter plural) of Late Latin epidēmius "widespread, prevalent (of a disease)," borrowed from Greek epidḗmios "within the country, among the people, prevalent (of a disease)," from epi- epi- + -dēmios, adjective derivative of dêmos "district, country, people" — more at demo-

Note: The notion that the word epidemic (adjective or noun) is owed directly to Hippocrates—or is, to put it more circumspectly, part of the Hippocratic Corpus—is somewhat illusory, a product of the words used in English translations. For example, in W. H. S. Jones' translation of De aere aquis et locis (Loeb Classical Library, 1923), the following passage (4.32-34) implies a distinction between "endemic" and "epidemic": "For men these diseases are endemic, besides there are epidemic diseases which may prevail through the change of the seasons." In the Greek text, however, "endemic diseases" are nosḗmata epichōría "illnesses of the country, native illnesses," while "epidemic diseases" translates ti pánkoinon, literally, "something common," i.e., "common or general diseases." Derivatives based on epi- and dêmos can be found in the Hippocratic texts (e.g., "Kaì gàr állōs tò nósēma epídēmon ên," Epidemics 1.14; "Tà mèn epidēmḗsanta nosḗmata taûta," Epidemics 3.3), though epídēmon means simply "common, prevalent," and epidēmḗsanta "having become prevalent." The title Epidḗmia, conventionally translated "Epidemics," for the works in the Hippocratic Corpus dealing with seasonal diseases and case histories, is presumably post-classical.

Noun

noun derivative of epidemic entry 1

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More Definitions for epidemic

epidemic

noun

English Language Learners Definition of epidemic

medical : an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people

: a sudden quickly spreading occurrence of something harmful or unwanted

See the full definition for epidemic in the English Language Learners Dictionary

epidemic

noun

ep·i·dem·ic | \ ˌe-pə-ˈde-mik

Kids Definition of epidemic

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : a rapidly spreading outbreak of disease

2 : something harmful that spreads or develops rapidly a crime epidemic

epidemic

adjective

Kids Definition of epidemic (Entry 2 of 2)

: spreading widely and affecting many people at the same time an epidemic disease

epidemic

adjective

ep·i·dem·ic | \ ˌep-ə-ˈdem-ik

variants: also epidemical \ -i-kəl

Medical Definition of epidemic

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : affecting or tending to affect an atypically large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time typhoid was epidemic — compare endemic, sporadic sense 1

2 : of, relating to, or constituting an epidemic coronary disease…has hit epidemic proportions— Herbert Ratner