1
as in infectious
exciting a similar feeling or reaction in others
the little girl's giggles were epidemic, and soon the entire gathering was laughing
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of epidemic
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 14 May 2026
Reckless driving reach epidemic proportions during the pandemic and has only somewhat abated since.
—Byron Hurd, The Drive, 14 May 2026
Trisha Swift, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025
But some researchers say the response should not be limited to the epidemic hot spots in big cities.
—Byjon Cohen, science.org, 9 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for epidemic
Noun
None has the scientific firepower of WHO members such as France’s Pasteur Institute, which played a key role in the AIDS epidemic, or Britain’s Medical Research Council, which has produced 32 Nobel Prize winners.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 14 May 2026
Reckless driving reach epidemic proportions during the pandemic and has only somewhat abated since.
—Byron Hurd, The Drive, 14 May 2026
Adjective
From Breath To Burnout The early identification of imbalances caused by chronic stress resonates deeply in our current health climate, where burnout, emotional exhaustion and cognitive fatigue are silently epidemic.
—Trisha Swift, Forbes.com, 28 July 2025
But some researchers say the response should not be limited to the epidemic hot spots in big cities.
—Byjon Cohen, science.org, 9 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for epidemic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for epidemic
Noun
-
Kids do this instinctively; during the pandemic, my daughter, Charlie, then five years old, got off her Zoom school screen and started looking wildly around the room, picking stuff up and setting it down.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 May 2026
-
Authorities banned the vigil in Hong Kong in 2020, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
19 May 2026
Noun
-
As previously reported, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius released thermal energy roughly equivalent to 100,000 times the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, spewing molten rock, pumice, and hot ash over the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in particular.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
18 May 2026
-
Its origin—Crater Lake formed following a volcanic eruption 7,700 years ago—only adds to the allure.—
Stephanie Vermillion,
Travel + Leisure,
17 May 2026
Adjective
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Travolta’s infectious enthusiasm carried over into the movie itself, a semi-autobiographical trifle about his childhood love of air travel.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
19 May 2026
-
His humor, and especially his laugh, was infectious.—
Julia Moore,
PEOPLE,
18 May 2026
Noun
-
Haffkine, little known to the general public, was the Ukrainian-Jewish scientist whose work on cholera and plague vaccines in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries helped save millions of lives.—
Andreas Wiseman,
Deadline,
15 May 2026
-
In 2023, a slew of onstage attacks involving water bottles, cellphones and other projectiles seemed to plague musicians.—
Emily St. Martin,
Los Angeles Times,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
Rubin, with the exquisite detail of its images, is well placed to find these types of events, in which stars disappear in explosions that can be too faint for other surveys to see.—
Quanta Magazine,
Quanta Magazine,
15 May 2026
-
In New York City, the explosion of rideshare pickups and last-mile delivery overwhelmed curbside infrastructure built for a different era.—
Chase Garbarino,
Fortune,
15 May 2026
Noun
-
Parks turned into deserts, great skyscrapers leveled by blows from the tails of the monsters, and the entire population threatened in the panic and pestilence that followed the invasion.—
Rick Kogan,
Chicago Tribune,
31 Mar. 2026
-
Horses, donkeys, camels, and herds and flocks of other livestock die from the pestilence.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Whatever upswing came in March could be short-lived.—
Jonathan Lansner,
Oc Register,
19 May 2026
-
Cruises didn’t see an upswing in passengers again until 2022, Coggins said.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 May 2026
Noun
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Looking ahead, the biggest growth drivers for Cisco will likely be hyperscaler AI build-outs and enterprise artificial intelligence networking upgrades, in addition to campus modernization as requirements for traffic, security, and latency increase, according to HSBC.—
Liz Napolitano,
CNBC,
15 May 2026
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School nutrition directors say that the increases are not enough and Congress needs to rethink the reimbursement formula as meal program costs rise.—
Brittney Melton,
NPR,
15 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Epidemic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/epidemic. Accessed 20 May. 2026.
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