Lexic.us

Definition of Epidemic

1. Adjective. (especially of medicine) of disease or anything resembling a disease; attacking or affecting many individuals in a community or a population simultaneously. "An epidemic outbreak of influenza"

2. Noun. A widespread outbreak of an infectious disease; many people are infected at the same time.

Definition of Epidemic

1. a. Common to, or affecting at the same time, a large number in a community; -- applied to a disease which, spreading widely, attacks many persons at the same time; as, an epidemic disease; an epidemic catarrh, fever, etc. See Endemic.

2. n. An epidemic disease.

Definition of Epidemic

1. Noun. A widespread disease that affects many individuals in a population. ¹

2. Noun. (epidemiology) An occurrence of a disease or disorder in a population at a frequency higher than that expected in a given time period. ¹

3. Adjective. Like or having to do with an epidemic; widespread ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Epidemic

1. a rapid spread of a disease [n -S]

Medical Definition of Epidemic

1. Occurring suddenly in numbers clearly in excess of normal expectancy, said especially of infectious diseases but applied also to any disease, injury or other health related event occurring in such outbreaks. Compare: endemic, sporadic. Origin: Gr. Epidemios = prevalent (13 Nov 1997)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Epidemic

epicycle epicycles epicyclic epicyclic gear epicyclic gear train epicyclic train epicyclical epicycloid epicycloidal epicycloids

epicystitis epicyte epicœnes epideictic epideictically epidemic (current term) epidemic benign dry pleurisy epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis epidemic cholera epidemic curve

epidemic diaphragmatic pleurisy epidemic disease epidemic dropsy epidemic encephalitis epidemic exanthema epidemic fadeout epidemic gangrenous proctitis epidemic gastroenteritis virus epidemic haemoglobinuria epidemic haemorrhagic fever

Literary usage of Epidemic

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1919)
"THE epidemic began September 21. Cases began to be sent in to the hospital ... The Fifth Infantry was more severely attacked as the epidemic first appeared ..."

2. Science by American Association for the Advancement of Science (1919)
"Federal Statistics of the epidemic.—At the "Washington meeting of Subcommittee A, ... Causes of death reported during the epidemic were to be classified in ..."

3. The Practitioner by Gale Group, ProQuest Information and Learning Company (1883)
"Typhoid fever occurs only sporadically, and ague is unknown. An epidemic of measles occurred amongst the children in the month of March, 1882. ..."

4. Monographic Medicine by William Robie Patten Emerson, Guido Guerrini, William Brown, Wendell Christopher Phillips, John Whitridge Williams, John Appleton Swett, Hans Günther, Mario Mariotti, Hugh Grant Rowell (1916)
"epidemic Cerebrospinal Meningitis ... Genickstarre) epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis is an epidemic or sporadic inflammation of the ..."

5. A History of Epidemics in Britain by Charles Creighton (1894)
"But there are periods, such as 1657-59, 1678-79, and 1727-29 when short waves of epidemic catarrhs or catarrhal fevers came in the midst of longer waves of ..."

6. The Journal of Infectious Diseases by Infectious Diseases Society of America, John Rockefeller McCormick Memorial Fund, John McCormick Institute for Infectious Diseases (1915)
"During the investigation of the following epidemic a study was made of the ... In the fall of 1913 there occurred an epidemic simulating typhoid among the ..."

7. Preventive Medicine and Hygiene by Milton Joseph Rosenau, George Chandler Whipple, John William Trask, Thomas William Salmon (1921)
"epidemic ENCEPHALITIS epidemic encephalitis, also called encephalitis lethargica, ... The only epidemic appearance of any similar disease in the ..."

Other Resources: