epidemic

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The fast spread of an infectious disease through a population.

   The city was in the grip of a cholera epidemic.

2. 2
   noun

   A sudden, widespread increase in something harmful.

   Experts warn of a growing epidemic of loneliness among young people.

3. 3
   adj

   Spreading rapidly and widely, like a disease.

   Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in many countries.

From French épidémique, from épidémie, from Medieval Latin epidēmia, reanalysis of plural Late Latin epidēmia, from Ancient Greek ἐπιδήμιος (epidḗmios), from ἐπί (epí, “upon”) + δῆμος (dêmos, “people”). By surface analysis, epi- (“on”) + demic (“of the people”).

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