epidemic

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“
But this epidemic is a germ disease, Bud, and we don't exactly know how the germs are carried.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. adjective Spreading rapidly and extensively by infection and affecting many individuals in an area or a population at the same time: an epidemic outbreak of influenza.
  2. adjective Widely prevalent: epidemic discontent.
  3. noun An outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely.
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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (41)

  • In this way the epidemic was at once stopped from spreading. —  Commandant of Auschwitz
  • Organizers also hope the exhibit will give the community a chance to reflect and respond to the global epidemic, which is seeing higher infection rates in this country as well. —  News & Record Article Feed
  • In Europe, even in the American continents and Africa and Australia the epidemic has been the reason of mass destruction and havoc through yesteryears. —  Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
  • By the sounds of it, humans have become immune to most forms of medication, so a flu-epidemic is a scary thing. —  The Written World
  • This epidemic is the moral responsibility of everyone to help get waistlines, portion sizes and caloric intakes under control. —  blog.bioethics.net - the editors' blog of The American Journal of Bioethics
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

outbreak ·  plague ·  pestilence ·  illness ·  famine ·  malady ·  scourge ·  calamity ·  cholera ·  infection ·  earthquake ·  catastrophe

Used in the same contextWord Family

epidemic:   epidemics
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French épidémique, from épidémie, an epidemic, from Old French espydymie, from Medieval Latin epidēmia, from Greek epidēmiā, prevalence of an epidemic disease, from epidēmos, prevalent : epi-, epi- + dēmos, people; see dā- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Latin epidemus (from Greek ἐπίδημος, also ἐπιδήμιος, among the people, general, epidemic, from ἐπί, upon, + δῆμος, people), + -ic.
 

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/ɛpɪˈdɛmɪk/
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