Pandemic Meaning
/pænˈdɛmɪk/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjOf a disease: epidemic over a wide geographical area and affecting a large proportion of the population; also, of or pertaining to a disease of this nature.
adjGeneral, widespread.
Sentence Examples
Tom is afraid of the pandemic.
European officials say they fear the spread could quickly develop into a pandemic.
The government has drawn up guidelines for schools during the pandemic.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The worldwide spread of a deadly disease was declared a ____ by health officials.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The global ____ forced governments to impose lockdowns and restrict international travel.
Word Origin & History
From Ancient Greek πάνδημος (pándēmos, “of or belonging to all the people, public”) + English -ic (suffix forming adjectives from nouns with the sense ‘of or pertaining to’). πάνδημος is derived from παν- (pan-, prefix meaning ‘all, every’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect, shepherd”)) + δῆμος (dêmos, “the common people; free citizens, sovereign people”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide, share”)). Compare Late Latin pandēmus (“affecting all the people, general, public”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Among diſeaſes, ſome do more generally haunt a Country, by reaſon of a certain property in the air, produced through a particular influence of the climat; and the fuming of malign ſtreams out of the earth; whence ſuch diſeaſes are termed Endemick or Pandemick: Others, though they are general, do only rage at a certain ſeaſon of the year, and are therefore called Epidemick; [...]"
— [[1672?], Gideon Harvey, “Of the Original and Contagion of Consumptions”, in Morbus Anglicus, or A Theoretick and Practical Discourse of Consumptions, and Hypochondriack Melancholy. […], London: Printed for William Thackeray, […], →OCLC, pages 1–2:
"Diſeaſes are likewise endemic and pandemic. [...] The pandemic affect the People in general at one and the ſame Time, without Regard to Sex, Age, Condition, or Temperament; ſuch as peſtilential Diſeaſes."
— 1754, R[ichard] Brookes, “Of Pathology”, in An Introduction to Physic and Surgery: […], London: Printed for J[ohn] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 41:
"Avian–human influenza A reassortant viruses with the phenotype of restricted replication in primates would not be able to spread efficiently from human to human, and therefore viruses with these gene constellations would not be expected to give rise to pandemic human influenza viruses. This represents one possible obstacle to the emergence of new pandemic influenza A viruses in humans, namely, the presence of avian–human influenza gene constellations that restrict viral replication in primates."
— 1990, John Treanor, Brian Murphy, “Genes Involved in the Restriction of Replication of Avian Influenza A Viruses in Primates”, in Edouard Kerstak, R. G. Marusyk, F. A. Murphy, M[arc] H[ubert] V[ictor] van Regenmortel, editors, Virus Variability, Epidemiology, and Control (Applied Virology Research; 2), New York, N.Y.; London: Plenum Medical Book Company, →ISBN, page 165:
"A former age insisted upon the efficacy of scarlet curtains and red broad-cloth in small-pox—a succeeding age thinks it has proved the practice superstitious,—or they refer to it fancy. Now that said fancy is an element in the constitution of man, possibly more powerful in its effects upon the cure or aggravation of disease, than all the drugs in all the chemists' laboratories in all the towns of the world. For it is universal and not partial, pandemic and not solitary."
— 1844 May, “Art. VI.—On Superstitions Connected with the History and Practice of Medicine and Surgery. By John Joseph Pettigrew, […] London: Churchill. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review, volumes II (New and Improved Series), London: G. Henderson, […], →OCLC, pages 70–71:
"Allow Class[ical] Ō and Ǔ to merge into a single phoneme, namely /o/, [...] and the specimens under investigation will emerge as /nodo/, /nokʼe/, and /noro/, the last-mentioned driven by an early pandemic tendency to change into /nora/ as, inherently, the designation of a female."
— 1987, Yakov Malkiel, “The Transmission into Romance of Latin NŌDUS, NǓPTIAE, NǓRUS, and NǓX: Diachronic Interplay of Phonetic and Semantic Analogies”, in General Linguistics, volume 27, number 4, pages 239–260; republished in Diachronic Studies in Lexicology, Affixation, Phonology (Edita and Inedita, 1979–1988; II), Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1992, →ISBN, page 207:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The worldwide spread of a deadly disease was declared a ____ by health officials.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The global ____ forced governments to impose lockdowns and restrict international travel.