epidemic

«epidemic» in Mova's school dictionary: A disease that spreads quickly to many people in one area… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (an epidemic, epidemics); adjective (epidemic)

meaning for a pupil

1) A disease that spreads quickly to many people in one area at the same time. tree →

2) A sudden fast spread of something bad, like bullying or a craze. tree →

3) (adjective) Happening widely and fast. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science and history, epidemics like cholera, plague and flu show how germs spread and why hygiene, clean water and vaccines matter. In maths, epidemic numbers can double quickly. In news, «an epidemic of» is used for any fast-spreading problem. Phrases: «a flu epidemic», «an epidemic of», «epidemic proportions».

examples

• A cholera epidemic hit the city long ago. tree →
• Washing hands helps stop an epidemic. tree →
• There was a flu epidemic at school, and half the class was off. tree →
• Scientists study how an epidemic spreads. tree →
• The town faced an epidemic of bike thefts. tree →
• Vaccines helped end the epidemic. tree →

note

Countable. Compare: an outbreak is small and local; an epidemic spreads widely in a region; a pandemic spreads across many countries or the whole world. In maths, epidemic growth is often modelled by doubling: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «epidemic» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.