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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The lead author of the study, Anders Peter Hviid, head of the epidemiology research department at the Statens Serum Institut in Denmark, defended the work in a response post to TrialSite. Michael Erman, USA Today, 12 Aug. 2025 If your heart age is significantly higher than your chronological age, that should spur a conversation with your doctor, study author Sadiya Khan, MD, professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Health. Kristen Fischer, Health, 9 Aug. 2025 Corresponding author Marc Weisskopf, professor of environmental epidemiology and physiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, commented on these findings in a press release. Angelica Stabile, FOXNews.com, 22 July 2025 Their lack of expertise and, for some, even basic knowledge of epidemiology, were evident throughout the two-day meeting. Lisa Jarvis, Mercury News, 5 July 2025 See All Example Sentences for epidemiology

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

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Cite this Entry

“Epidemiology.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epidemiology. Accessed 27 Aug. 2025.

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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