noun

epidemic

eh-pih-DEH-mihk

noun

An outbreak of a disease that spreads quickly and affects many people in a population at once.

"The city imposed travel restrictions to slow the epidemic."

A sudden, widespread increase in something harmful or undesirable.

"Officials described the rise in overdoses as an epidemic."

adjective

Spreading quickly and widely, especially something harmful.

"Fraud has reached epidemic levels in the industry."

How to Use Epidemic

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA disease (or problem) that spreads fast through a large group of people.

Common mistake

An epidemic is typically confined to one region or country; a pandemic has spread across multiple countries or continents.

Easily confused with

pandemic →

Common pairings

flu epidemic epidemic levels a growing epidemic

more epidemic comparative, epidemics plural, most epidemic superlative

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Can you complete this real example?

The city imposed travel restrictions to slow the _____.

From Greek epidemios, "among the people," from epi- ("upon") plus demos ("people").

anemic endemic academic pandemic systemic