noun · academic
epidemic
UK/ˌepɪˈdɛmɪk/US/ˌɛpɪˈdɛmɪk/ep·i·DEM·ic
a sudden increase in the number of cases of a disease beyond what is normally expected in a community or area
Examples
“The city faced an epidemic of influenza last winter.”
“Controlling an epidemic requires quick public‑health action.”
“Obesity is sometimes described as a global epidemic.”
Band 8 sentence
“Rapid detection and international cooperation are essential to prevent a local epidemic from becoming a pandemic.”
Collocations
- disease epidemic
- epidemic outbreak
- contain an epidemic
Word family
Common mistakes
use 'epidemic' and 'pandemic' interchangeably→epidemic (một vùng/nhiều người trong khu vực) vs pandemic (trên toàn cầu)
say 'an epidemic of traffic accidents' awkwardly→a high rate of traffic accidents / an outbreak of traffic accidents
Say it for a higher band
5outbreak→6pandemic→7+epidemic
Synonyms
outbreak
Easily confused
pandemic
“The pandemic affected countries across the world.”
Related words
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In Health & Fitness
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