epidemic. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

epidemic

SYLLABICATION:	ep·i·dem·ic
PRONUNCIATION:	p-dmk
VARIANT FORMS:	also ep·i·dem·i·cal (--kl)
ADJECTIVE:	1. Spreading rapidly and extensively by infection and affecting many individuals in an area or a population at the same time: an epidemic outbreak of influenza. 2. Widely prevalent: epidemic discontent.
NOUN:	1. An outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely. 2. A rapid spread, growth, or development: an unemployment epidemic.
ETYMOLOGY:	French épidémique, from épidémie, an epidemic, from Old French espydymie, from Medieval Latin epidmia, from Greek epidmi, prevalence of an epidemic disease, from epidmos, prevalent : epi-, epi- + dmos, people; see d- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	epi·demi·cal·ly —ADVERB


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.