epidemiology

noun

ep·​i·​de·​mi·​ol·​o·​gy ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ˈä-lə-jē 

-ˌde-mē-

1

: a branch of medical science that deals with the incidence, distribution, and control of disease in a population

2

: the sum of the factors controlling the presence or absence of a disease or pathogen

epidemiological

ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ə-ˈlä-ji-kəl  -ˌde-mē- 

adjective

or less commonly epidemiologic

ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ə-ˈlä-jik 

-ˌde-mē-

epidemiologically

ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ə-ˈlä-ji-k(ə-)lē 

-ˌde-mē-

adverb

epidemiologist

ˌe-pə-ˌdē-mē-ˈä-lə-jist  -ˌde-mē- 

noun

Examples of epidemiology in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In general, chronic exposure to PM2.5 can result in health outcomes eight times worse than short-term exposures from sources such as wildfires, according to Joel Schwartz, a professor of environmental epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. —Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 1 Dec. 2024

The epidemiology center’s region spans Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. —Kff Health News, Orange County Register, 13 Nov. 2024

Zoom in: Feeling distressed and sad after a disaster is normal — and there's no shame in seeking help, said Jennifer Horney, an epidemiology professor at the University of Delaware whose research focuses on health impacts after disasters. —Kathryn Varn, Axios, 2 Oct. 2024

Summer travel for vacations and gatherings typically drives a large wave of COVID-19 cases, said Emily Smith, an infectious diseases and epidemiology expert at GW Milken Institute of Public Health. —Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, 25 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, Spanish, or New Latin; French épidémiologie, borrowed from Spanish epidemiología, borrowed from New Latin epidēmiologia, from Medieval Latin epidēmia "disease affecting a large number of individuals, epidemic" + New Latin -o- -o- + -logia -logy — more at epidemic entry 1

Note: New Latin epidēmiologia was used in the title of a treatise by the Calabrian physician Quinto Tiberio Angelerio (1532-1617), Epidemiologia, sive Tractatus de peste (Madrid, 1598), a second edition of his earlier work Ectypa pestilentis status Algheriae Sardiniae (Cagliari, 1588), detailing methods to cope with a plague outbreak in Alghero, Sardinia, in 1582-83. The Latin word was revived by the Spanish physician Joaquín de Villalba (1752-1807) in his Epidemiología española (Madrid, 1802), a history of epidemics in Spain that was widely disseminated in Europe.

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

epidemiology

noun

ep·​i·​de·​mi·​ol·​o·​gy ˌep-ə-ˌdē-mē-ˈäl-ə-jē 

1

: a branch of medical science that deals with the occurrence, distribution, and control of disease in a population

2

: the sum of the factors controlling the presence or absence of a particular disease

epidemiological

-mē-ə-ˈläj-i-kəl 

adjective

also epidemiologic

-ˈläj-ik 

Medical Definition

epidemiology

noun

ep·​i·​de·​mi·​ol·​o·​gy -jē 

plural epidemiologies

1

: a branch of medical science that deals with the incidence, distribution, and control of disease in a population

2

: the sum of the factors controlling the presence or absence of a disease or pathogen

epidemiological

-ˌdē-mē-ə-ˈläj-i-kəl  -ˌdem-ē- 

adjective

also epidemiologic

-ik 

epidemiologically

-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb