Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Widespread; general.
- adj. Medicine Epidemic over a wide geographic area and affecting a large proportion of the population: pandemic influenza.
- n. A pandemic disease.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Incident to a whole people; epidemic: as, a pandemic disease.
- n. A pandemic disease.
- In phytogeography, growing throughout the world: cosmopolitan.
- Pertaining to all; human; hence, sensual; not spiritual.
Wiktionary
- adj. Widespread; general.
- adj. medicine Epidemic over a wide geographical area and affecting a large proportion of the population.
- n. A pandemic disease; a disease that hits a wide geographical area and affects a large proportion of the population.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Affecting a whole people or a number of countries; everywhere epidemic.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. epidemic over a wide geographical area
- n. an epidemic that is geographically widespread; occurring throughout a region or even throughout the world
- adj. existing everywhere
Etymologies
- Late Latin pandemus, from Ancient Greek πάν ("all") (equivalent to English pan-)+ δῆμος ("the people") (Wiktionary)
- From Late Latin pandēmus, from Greek pandēmos, of all the people : pan-, pan- + dēmos, people; see dā- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word pandemic comes from the Greek word pandemos, which literally translates to "pertaining to all people.”
“But, he added, "we want people to understand what the word pandemic really means.”
“The term pandemic has to do with the geographic spread of a disease and not with the severity.”
“Health Organization's response to the swine flu outbreak and likely examine whether the term pandemic was appropriate”
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“The U.N. health agency went ahead anyway, arguing that the term pandemic signifies only that a new strain is circulating worldwide, but says nothing about how dangerous it is.”
“A group of outside experts will scrutinize the World Health Organization's response to the swine flu outbreak and likely examine whether the term pandemic was appropriate for what has turned out to be a relatively mild disease, the World Health Organization said Monday.”
“But the United Nations health agency went ahead, arguing that the term pandemic signifies only that a new strain is circulating worldwide, but says nothing about how dangerous it is.”
“However, the United Nations health agency went ahead, arguing that the term pandemic signifies only that a new strain is circulating worldwide, but says nothing about how dangerous it is.”
“GENEVA - A group of outside experts will scrutinize the World Health Organization's response to the swine flu outbreak and likely examine whether the term pandemic was appropriate for what has turned out to be a relatively mild disease, the World Health Organization said Monday.”
“The World Health Organization uses the term pandemic to refer to geographic spread rather than severity.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pandemic’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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My Strange Kitchen
It seems that whenever I look away, new gadgets and devices and tools and dishes and utensils and ingredients are multiplying in my kitchen drawers and my cabinets.
tectonic plates, spoonbill, fork in the road, bowl haircut, whisk away, greasy spoon, melting pot, pan flute, platelets, spooning, pitchfork, jackknife and 101 more...
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gre
municipal, whit, dissembler, berate, liberally, embellish, dissimilitude, histrionics, flamboyance, bombastic, bovine, calumny and 142 more...
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phrontistery - p
from phrontistery.info
pabouche, pabulous, pabulum, pacable, pace, pachydermia, pachyglossal, pachymeter, pachynsis, paciferous, pacificate, pactolian and 1766 more...
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Best words ever
The most awesome words.
abacot, aristology, autohagiography, backronym, bafflegab, bodacious, boustrophedonic, brobdingnagian, bromopnea, cachinnatory, dactylonomy, eagre and 26 more...
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SAT words
tergiversate, cymotrichous, vigilance, wince, consternation, cower, neutralize, euphony, cacophony, misanthrope, bibliophile, kleptomania and 81 more...
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josholalia's list
ineluctable, glossolalia, agog, echolalia, minaret, pillory, usury, gimlet, carioca, sniveling, concave, convex and 15 more...
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GRE Reference
A list of words unfamiliar to me that I have repeatedly encountered in GRE question sets.
parochial, clique, salacious, aegis, ostracize, conceited, sacrilegious, inane, serendipity, gourmand, polemic, tenuous and 138 more...
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Unexpected second meanings
Who knew that dildo was also a type of cactus?
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bilby's Words
pandemic, whirl, guffaw, ethereal, feisty, dunt, ephemeral, pule, flipergebet, prink, maunder, gammon and 1023 more...
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everythingecstatic's Words
cadence, frenetic, eloquence, paradigm, nocturne, elusive, effervescence, soliloquy, plethora, elision, aqueous, transcend and 166 more...
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Malachi_Constant's Words
triumverate, pandemic, parsnip, delineate, zamboni, parka, laser, swoop, malevolent, benevolent, fracas, tipsy and 372 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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Eazy E
motley, callous, languid, copious, dubious, contemptible, disparage, sporadic, gratuitous, disillusioned, conflagration, concordance and 99 more...
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GRE vocab
martinet, churlish, polyglot, aplomb, dissembler, histrionics, prevarication, ignominy, impugn, fastidious, trenchant, perfunctory and 155 more...
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Mimi
sober, rhetoric, oratory, ergo, venom, diaphragm, Medieval, piety, incognito, ruse, calamity, evidence and 251 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pandemic.
jwjarvis is an epidemic that spreads across a large region (for example a continent), or even worldwide. Oct 24, 2010
Prolagus Blood disease of vegetarian Carnivores. May 2, 2008