epidemiology

noun

ep·​i·​de·​mi·​ol·​o·​gy ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ˈä-lə-jē How to pronounce epidemiology (audio)
-ˌde-mē-
1
: a branch of medical science that deals with the incidence, distribution, and control of disease in a population
2
: the sum of the factors controlling the presence or absence of a disease or pathogen
epidemiological adjective
or less commonly epidemiologic
epidemiologically adverb

Examples of epidemiology in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web There’s no good data about this topic, according to Nicholas Reed, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who studies hearing loss. Judith Graham, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Mar. 2024 And if sea otters were to suffer such losses, that would endanger the health of California’s vast kelp forests, which would be left prey to sea urchins, said Christine Johnson, professor of epidemiology and ecosystem health at UC Davis. Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb. 2024 Graham Snyder, the medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, has some good news and some bad news. Rachel Kurzius, Washington Post, 11 Jan. 2024 Although the findings were consistent, experimental evidence is needed to confirm them, said Daniel Belsky, associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center and senior author of the paper. Nick Morrison, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 Environmental carcinogens have been notoriously difficult to find because toxicology, an experimental science, has to keep pace with epidemiology, an observational one. Siddhartha Mukherjee, The New Yorker, 11 Dec. 2023 This role is eligible for telework*** Brief description: This scientist will serve as Cal-OSHA’s epidemiology expert as well as a subject-matter expert in biostatistics. Maya Miller, Sacramento Bee, 22 Feb. 2024 In around 80% of these cases, the person who tested positive had previously been around someone with COVID-19 for an hour or longer, says co-author Christophe Fraser, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Oxford’s Pandemic Sciences Institute (PSI). TIME, 17 Jan. 2024 Any surface or item used to prepare, eat or clean food, such as sponges, countertops, sinks and cutting boards, should be thoroughly cleaned after each use, says Elaine Larson, professor of epidemiology emerita at Columbia University. Annie Midori Atherton, Washington Post, 15 Jan. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'epidemiology.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, Spanish, or New Latin; French épidémiologie, borrowed from Spanish epidemiología, borrowed from New Latin epidēmiologia, from Medieval Latin epidēmia "disease affecting a large number of individuals, epidemic" + New Latin -o- -o- + -logia -logy — more at epidemic entry 1

Note: New Latin epidēmiologia was used in the title of a treatise by the Calabrian physician Quinto Tiberio Angelerio (1532-1617), Epidemiologia, sive Tractatus de peste (Madrid, 1598), a second edition of his earlier work Ectypa pestilentis status Algheriae Sardiniae (Cagliari, 1588), detailing methods to cope with a plague outbreak in Alghero, Sardinia, in 1582-83. The Latin word was revived by the Spanish physician Joaquín de Villalba (1752-1807) in his Epidemiología española (Madrid, 1802), a history of epidemics in Spain that was widely disseminated in Europe.

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of epidemiology was in 1850

Dictionary Entries Near epidemiology

Cite this Entry

“Epidemiology.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epidemiology. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

epidemiology

noun
ep·​i·​de·​mi·​ol·​o·​gy ˌep-ə-ˌdē-mē-ˈäl-ə-jē How to pronounce epidemiology (audio)
1
: a branch of medical science that deals with the occurrence, distribution, and control of disease in a population
2
: the sum of the factors controlling the presence or absence of a particular disease
epidemiological adjective
also epidemiologic

Medical Definition

epidemiology

noun
ep·​i·​de·​mi·​ol·​o·​gy -jē How to pronounce epidemiology (audio)
plural epidemiologies
1
: a branch of medical science that deals with the incidence, distribution, and control of disease in a population
2
: the sum of the factors controlling the presence or absence of a disease or pathogen
epidemiological adjective
also epidemiologic
epidemiologically adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on epidemiology

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