What Does Epidemic Mean?

Epidemic means affecting or inclined to affect an excessively large number of persons within a population, region or community, at the same time. It could refer to something that is excessively prevalent. It may be used to mean contagious. It could also denote of, concerning; or something constituting an epidemic. It generally means to spread both rapidly and extensively by means of a disease or infection as well as affecting scores of individuals in a given area or a population. It could simply refer to a rapid growth, spread, or development.

Epidemical is the adjective form of the word while epidemically is the adverb form of epidemic. The noun form of the word epidemic is epidemicity.

It comes from the Greek word epi- meaning upon + demos, meaning people.