epidemiology

noun

ep·​i·​de·​mi·​ol·​o·​gy ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ˈä-lə-jē 

-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

ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ə-ˈlä-ji-kəl  -ˌde-mē- 

adjective

or less commonly epidemiologic

ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ə-ˈlä-jik 

-ˌde-mē-

epidemiologically

ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ə-ˈlä-ji-k(ə-)lē 

-ˌde-mē-

adverb

epidemiologist

ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ˈä-lə-jist  -ˌde-mē- 

noun

Examples of epidemiology in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The members removed by Kennedy include experts in pediatrics, infectious diseases, global public health, epidemiology and family medicine. —Mary Kekatos, ABC News, 11 June 2025

Members began reading scientific journals religiously, learning the chemistry and epidemiology of drug manufacturing and clinical trials. —Time, 11 June 2025

The department includes an epidemiology and immunization services branch, which receives reports from local labs and physicians regarding new infectious disease cases. —Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 May 2025

The molecular epidemiology of multiple zoonotic origins of SARS-CoV-2 Cell. —Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 7 May 2025

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

Rhymes for epidemiology

• anesthesiology
• ethnomethodology
• ethnomusicology
• gastroenterology
• immunobiology
• immunopathology
• neuropharmacology
• neurophysiology
• neuroradiology
• otolaryngology
• paleobiology
• paleoecology

Kids Definition

epidemiology

noun

ep·​i·​de·​mi·​ol·​o·​gy ˌep-ə-ˌdē-mē-ˈäl-ə-jē 

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

-mē-ə-ˈläj-i-kəl 

adjective

also epidemiologic

-ˈläj-ik 

Medical Definition

epidemiology

noun

ep·​i·​de·​mi·​ol·​o·​gy -jē 

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

-ˌdē-mē-ə-ˈläj-i-kəl  -ˌdem-ē- 

adjective

also epidemiologic

-ik 

epidemiologically

-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb