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

The country’s top epidemiology official, Dr. Francisco Durán, said on state television that cases were also found in four municipalities in the province of Cienfuegos in central Cuba: Abreu, Rodas, Aguada, and Cumanayagua. —Nora Gámez Torres, Miami Herald, 30 May 2024

In the early 20th century, a small but growing number of scientists began to study measles’ ever-shifting epidemiology around the world. —History / Elena Conis, TIME, 29 May 2024

Wolfe agreed that there is still a lot the field of wastewater epidemiology has to learn about how to interpret the kind of H5-specific data that WastewaterSCAN will soon be collecting. —Megan Molteni, STAT, 22 May 2024

Deployment to Military Bases With Open Burn Pits and Respiratory and Cardiovascular Disease Lead author of the study and a professor of epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. —Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 20 May 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