Usage of Endemic, Epidemic, and Pandemic
This trio of terms describes various degrees of an infectious disease's spread. The process begins with an outbreak—a sudden rise in the presence of a disease. An outbreak that can't be stopped or slowed, and in which the disease is spreading rapidly to many people within a localized community or region (such as a single country), is called an epidemic. The word pandemic refers to an epidemic that has gone international: the disease, once localized in scope, now starts to appear in other countries and even on other continents, typically infecting a large number of people in a short amount of time. A pandemic often has significant economic and social ramifications due to its global impact. If a disease lingers for a long time as an epidemic or a pandemic, it may eventually become endemic to an area. The word endemic describes a disease that persists at a consistent level within a region with fairly predictable rates of infection and spread, making it easier to prevent future outbreaks. Epidemic, pandemic, and endemic all share the Greek root dêmos, meaning "district, country, people."
Synonyms
Examples of epidemic in a Sentence
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, 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
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Lisa Mulcahy, Good Housekeeping, 30 Aug. 2023
With loneliness reaching epidemic proportions in the U.S.—and higher among young people—care and camaraderie are a premium.
—Roula Amire, Fortune, 18 July 2023
In the early 2000s, childhood obesity had reached epidemic proportions, and in 2007 the Board committed $500 million to fight this phenomenon, with a goal to reverse the epidemic.
—Bill Frist, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023
Other social media users in Australia ridiculed Owens on Twitter for criticizing local anti-epidemic measures, responding with images of themselves continuing to enjoy the outdoors, such as pristine, largely empty beaches.
—Time, 22 Oct. 2021
The anatomy of an outbreak: how tiny changes in the genome of the Chikungunya virus have created an epidemic African strain and a tamer Asian strain.
—Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 19 Aug. 2013
Many patients were involuntarily institutionalized in epidemic numbers: in the early 20th century, neurosyphilis was responsible for 5 to 10% of all psychiatric admissions (3).
—Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 31 May 2014
The razing has reached truly epidemic proportions in the Park Cities, where there is zero landmark protection for even the most significant works of architecture.
—Dallas News, 12 Jan. 2022
The anti-epidemic agency didn't respond to questions sent to its office by fax.
—Arkansas Online, 2 Dec. 2022
David Blood, CNN, 15 Sep. 2023
During the crack epidemic, the city’s population declined and its finances tanked.
—Paul Schwartzman, Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2023
Dontrell’s graduation photo was among about 100 faces in an April 2022 People magazine article on the fentanyl epidemic.
—Sharon Grigsby, Dallas News, 11 Sep. 2023
For the last year, various COVID variants have dominated different parts of the globe, creating more of a patchwork of epidemics than one consistent pandemic.
—Byerin Prater, Fortune Well, 9 Sep. 2023
Ohio and Kentucky have been hard hit by the opioid epidemic.
—Alexander Coolidge, The Enquirer, 8 Sep. 2023
Blame it on the loneliness epidemic, the not-so-long-ago COVID-19 pandemic closures, being Extremely Online or just the ebbs and flows of getting older.
—Diana Ruzova, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2023
Perhaps in part because of the valley’s isolation from the rest of the country, these trees survived the epidemics and may have even become resistant to the blight that killed off so many of their brothers, Toth said.
—Heide Brandes, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Sep. 2023
The mass shootings were the latest high-profile example of the epidemic of gun violence in the United States: Every day, approximately 100 Americans are killed with guns and hundreds more are shot and injured, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
—Greg Hanlon, Peoplemag, 31 Aug. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'epidemic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
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
Phrases Containing epidemic
Dictionary Entries Near epidemic
Cite this Entry
“Epidemic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epidemic. Accessed 28 Sep. 2023.
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Kids Definition
epidemic
1 of 2 adjective
epidemic
2 of 2 nounAdjective
derived from Greek epidēmia "an epidemic, visit," from epidēmos "visiting, epidemic," from epi- "on, at" and dēmos "people, the masses" — related to democracy
Medical Definition
epidemic
1 of 2 adjective
Herbert Ratnerepidemic
2 of 2 noun
More from Merriam-Webster on epidemic
Nglish: Translation of epidemic for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of epidemic for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about epidemic
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