noun / adjective

epidemic

ep-ih-DEM-ik/ˌepɪˈdemɪk/

An outbreak of disease spreading widely through a population.

An epidemic spreads through the neighborhood, affecting residents across many blocks.

A simple modern community-health scene: two visibly unwell residents sit apart outside a small clinic, while a prominent, text-free neighborhood map shows disease cases distributed across many residential blocks, making the community-wide outbreak clear.

Etymology

epiGreekamong, upon

+demGreekpeople, district

+icGreekpertaining to

The pieces convey something affecting or prevailing among a people. The adjective meant 'common to or affecting a whole people'; the noun came to name a disease outbreak throughout a community.

In context

Enhanced Public Domain58:15

even if I'd had any reason to expect a Tulia epidemic which I hadn't because the disease is unknown on this sector this is the only out break of it anybody's ever heard of

1900s Sci-Fi Audiobook: Henry Beam Piper - Five Sci-Fi Short Stories

More examples

Vaccination helps prevent epidemics of measles.
The flu epidemic keeps many students home from school.
Local doctors warn that measles is becoming epidemic.

Forms

epidemic · epidemics

epidemiology noun — The study of disease patterns in populations.

Similar words

outbreak: Can involve fewer cases within a more limited area.
pandemic: An epidemic that spreads across multiple countries or continents.