Pandemic

Pandemic
An epidemic (a sudden outbreak) that becomes very widespread and affects a whole region, a continent, or the world. By contrast: {{}}An epidemic affects more than the expected number of cases of disease occurring in a community or region during a given period of time. A sudden severe outbreak within a region or a group as, for example, AIDS in Africa or AIDS in intravenous drug users. An endemic is present in a community at all times but in low frequency. An endemic is continuous as in the case of malaria in some areas of the world or as with illicit drugs in some neighborhoods. The word "pandemic" comes from the Greek "pan-", "all" + "demos", "people or population" = "pandemos" = "all the people." A pandemic affects all (nearly all) of the people. By contrast, "epi-" means "upon." An epidemic is visited upon the people. And "en-" means "in." An endemic is in the people.
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Denoting a disease affecting or attacking the population of an extensive region, country, continent, global; extensively epidemic. [pan- + G. demos, the people]

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pan·dem·ic pan-'dem-ik adj occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population <\pandemic malaria> <\pandemic influenza>
pandemic n a pandemic outbreak of a disease

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n.
an epidemic so widely spread that vast numbers of people in different countries are affected. The Black Death, the epidemic plague that ravaged Europe in the fourteenth century and killed over one third of the population, was a classical pandemic. AIDS is currently considered to be pandemic.
• pandemic adj.

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pan·dem·ic (pan-demґik) [pan- + Gr. dēmos people] 1. a widespread epidemic of a disease. 2. widely epidemic; distributed or occurring widely throughout a region, country, or continent or globally.

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • pandemic — PANDÉMIC, Ă, pandemici, ce, adj. (Despre boli) (Care are caracter) de pandemie. – Din fr. pandémique. Trimis de valeriu, 13.09.2007. Sursa: DEX 98  pandémic adj. m., pl. pandémici; f. sg. pandémică, pl …   Dicționar Român

  • Pandemic — Pan*dem ic, a. [L. pandemus, Gr. ?, ?; pa^s, pa^n, all + ? the people: cf. F. pand[ e]mique.] Affecting a whole people or a number of countries; everywhere epidemic. n. A pandemic disease. Harvey. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • pandemic — [pan dem′ik] adj. [< LL pandemus < Gr pandēmos < pan, all (see PAN ) + dēmos, the people: see DEMOCRACY] prevalent over a whole area, country, etc.; universal; general; specif., epidemic over a large region: said of a disease n. a… …   English World dictionary

  • pandemic — index general, omnibus, predominant, prevailing (current), prevalent, rife Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton …   Law dictionary

  • pandemic — (adj.) 1666, from Gk. pandemos pertaining to all people, from pan all + demos people (see DEMOTIC (Cf. demotic)). Modeled on EPIDEMIC (Cf. epidemic). The noun is first recorded 1853, from the adj …   Etymology dictionary

  • pandemic — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or large part of the world. ► NOUN ▪ an outbreak of such a disease. ORIGIN from Greek pan all + d mos people …   English terms dictionary

  • Pandemic — A pandemic (from Greek παν pan all + δήμος demos people) is an epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through human populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide.DefinitionAccording to the World Health… …   Wikipedia

  • pandemic — A pandemic disease is one prevalent throughout a country, a continent, or the entire world. Pandemic suggests universal, widespread, and general : Fear of atomic warfare is pandemic. See also epidemic …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • pandemic — [[t]pænde̱mɪk[/t]] pandemics N COUNT A pandemic is an occurrence of a disease that affects many people over a very wide area. [FORMAL] They feared a new cholera pandemic... One pandemic of Spanish flu took nearly 22 million lives worldwide …   English dictionary

  • pandemic — n. an epidemic so widely spread that vast numbers of people in different countries are affected. The Black Death, the epidemic plague that ravaged Europe in the fourteenth century and killed over one third of the population, was a classical… …   The new mediacal dictionary

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