pandemic
adjective
pan·dem·ic
| \ pan-ˈde-mik
\
\
Definition of pandemic
(Entry 1 of 2)
: occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population
pandemic malaria The 1918 flu was pandemic and claimed millions of lives.
pandemic
noun
pan·dem·ic
| \ pan-ˈde-mik
\
\
Definition of pandemic (Entry 2 of 2)
: an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population : a pandemic outbreak of a disease
Examples of pandemic in a Sentence
Noun
… globalization, the most thoroughgoing socioeconomic upheaval since the Industrial Revolution, which has set off a pandemic of retrogressive nationalism, regional separatism, and religious extremism. — Martin Filler, New York Review of Books, 24 Sept. 2009 … it also hopes to utilize this cultural investigation to better understand strategies to reduce the massive pandemic we now understand cigarette smoking to produce. — Allan M. Brandt, The Cigarette Century, 2007 There is evidence that this gambling pandemic is going global. — Gerri Hirshey, New York Times Magazine, 17 July 1994 In ten years that it raged, this pandemic took or ravaged the lives of nearly five million people before it disappeared, as mysteriously and suddenly as it had arrived, in 1927. — Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, 1973 The 1918 flu pandemic claimed millions of lives.
Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
Meanwhile, international health planners tensely monitor the unpredictable evolution of the flu virus, watching for the emergence of a pandemic strain that could kill many millions. — Wired, "Why Denying Migrants Flu Shots Is a Dangerous, Foolish Move," 28 Aug. 2019 Only four such declarations have been made in the past: in 2009, for pandemic influenza; in 2014, for a polio resurgence in several countries; in 2014, for the Ebola epidemic in West Africa; and in 2016, for the Zika virus epidemic. — Denise Grady, New York Times, "Ebola Outbreak in Congo Is Declared a Global Health Emergency," 17 July 2019 The likelihood of a deadly pandemic outbreak of influenza is not far from reality considering the nature of some of the different viral strains. — David Biello, Scientific American, "The Influenza Threat: Pandemic in the Making," 28 Jan. 2013 Every few decades, a pandemic flu variant emerges that not only infects humans but also passes rapidly from person to person. — Quanta Magazine, "Decoding Flu Viruses Before an Outbreak," 29 Aug. 2013 America in 2018 is in many respects safer from the pandemic threat than America was in 1918. — Ron Klain, Vox, "A pandemic killing tens of millions of people is a real possibility — and we are not prepared for it," 15 Oct. 2018 If a pandemic disease severely affected China or India, where large shares of medicines come from, production could be knocked out or slowed. — Smithsonian, "A Saline Shortage This Flu Season Exposes a Flaw in Our Medical Supply Chain," 22 Jan. 2018 This year’s influenza season is a stark reminder of just how important this work is to remove the threat of influenza—seasonal and pandemic—forever. — Sy Mukherjee, Fortune, "Commentary: A $12 Million Innovation Prize for a Universal Flu Vaccine," 30 Apr. 2018 Those same factors faced the SOMNIA researchers, who were studying vaccines that contained AS03 but also MF-59, an adjuvant that was included in pandemic vaccines produced by Novartis. — Helen Branswell, STAT, "A stubborn medical mystery: Was pandemic flu vaccine tied to an increase in narcolepsy cases?," 5 July 2018Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
There was a swine flu pandemic in 2009 in the United States. — Dan Gelston, The Denver Post, "Pedro Martinez still baseball’s daddy years after retirement," 5 Aug. 2019 Previous emergencies were declared for the devastating 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, the emergence of Zika in the Americas, the swine flu pandemic and polio. — Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY, "Global health emergency declared over deadly Ebola outbreak in Congo," 18 July 2019 Gerry Lemcke of Swiss Re, which offers parametric insurance against pandemics, flight delays and hurricane damage to coral reefs, sees it as working rather like derivatives in finance, which have a strike price. — The Economist, "The future of insurance is happening without insurance firms," 20 July 2019 Previous emergencies were declared for the devastating 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, the emergence of Zika in the Americas, the swine flu pandemic and polio eradication. — Fox News, "Ebola outbreak in Congo declared a global health emergency by WHO," 18 July 2019 Previous emergencies were declared for the devastating 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,000 people, the emergence of Zika in the Americas, the swine flu pandemic and polio. — Jamey Keaten, The Denver Post, "Ebola outbreak in Congo declared a global health emergency," 17 July 2019 Doses arrived too late for the last, fortunately mild, pandemic in 2009. — Time, "Scientists Seek Universal Flu Shot 100 Years After Deadly Pandemic," 19 Jan. 2018 Other risks are variations on old themes, such as pandemics or the fallout from increasing protectionism. — The Economist, "The future of insurance is happening without insurance firms," 20 July 2019 These agents of cellular mayhem have been the cause of history-altering outbreaks and pandemics, from smallpox and polio to HIV and Ebola, but were only discovered at the turn of the 20th century. — Anna Groves, Discover Magazine, "Viruses: What They are, How They Spread, and How We Fight Them," 30 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pandemic.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for pandemic
pandemic
noun
English Language Learners Definition of pandemic
medical
: an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area or throughout the world
See the full definition for pandemic in the English Language Learners Dictionary
pandemic
adjective
pan·dem·ic
| \ pan-ˈdem-ik
\
\
Medical Definition of pandemic
(Entry 1 of 2)
: occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population
pandemic malaria pandemic influenza
pandemic
nounMedical Definition of pandemic (Entry 2 of 2)
: a pandemic outbreak of a disease
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