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View synonyms for endemic

endemic

[ en-dem-ik ]

adjective

  1. natural to or characteristic of a specific people or place; native; indigenous:

    The group is committed to preserving the endemic folkways of their nation.

    The recession hit especially hard in countries where high unemployment is endemic.

  2. belonging exclusively or confined to a particular place:

    When traveling, he caught a fever endemic to the tropics.

  3. (of a disease) persisting in a population or region, generally having settled to a relatively constant rate of occurrence:

    The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 may never disappear, but could become endemic like the flu.



noun

  1. an endemic disease.

endemic

/ ɛnˈdɛmɪk /

adjective

  1. present within a localized area or peculiar to persons in such an area


noun

  1. an endemic disease or plant

endemic

/ ĕn-dĕmĭk /

  1. Relating to a disease or pathogen that is found in or confined to a particular location, region, or people. Malaria, for example, is endemic to tropical regions.
  2. See also epidemic
  3. Native to a specific region or environment and not occurring naturally anywhere else. The giant sequoia is endemic to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada.
  4. Compare alien


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Derived Forms

  • enˈdemically, adverb
  • ˈendemism, noun

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Other Words From

  • en·dem·i·cal·ly adverb
  • en·de·mism [en, -d, uh, -miz-, uh, m], en·de·mic·i·ty [en-d, uh, -, mis, -i-tee], noun
  • non·en·dem·ic adjective
  • un·en·dem·ic adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of endemic1

First recorded in 1655–65; from New Latin endēmicus, equivalent to Greek éndēm(os) “dwelling in a place, native, (of disease) endemic” (from en- “within, in” + dêm(os) “people, district”) + Latin -icus adjective suffix; en- 2, deme, -ic

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Word History and Origins

Origin of endemic1

C18: from New Latin endēmicus, from Greek endēmos native, from en- ² + dēmos the people

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Usage

A disease that occurs regularly in a particular area, as malaria does in many tropical countries, is said to be endemic. The word endemic, built from the prefix en–, “in or within,” and the Greek word demos, “people,” means “within the people (of a region).” A disease that affects many more people than usual in a particular area or that spreads into regions in which it does not usually occur is said to be epidemic. This word, built from the prefix epi–, meaning “upon,” and demos, means “upon the people.” In order for a disease to become epidemic it must be highly contagious, that is, easily spread through a population. Influenza has been the cause of many epidemics throughout history. Epidemics of waterborne diseases such as cholera often occur after natural disasters such as earthquakes and severe storms that disrupt or destroy sanitation systems and supplies of fresh water.

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Example Sentences

An outbreak in Madagascar, where the disease is endemic, already has involved more than 100 people and killed almost half.

The findings are unlikely to surprise anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant: sexual harassment is endemic in the industry.

But The Dog surpasses simply documenting the alienation endemic in the 21st-century global village.

Indeed, a condition of rampant, endemic political corruption is known as a “kleptocracy”—literally, “rule by thieves.”

Travel from an endemic area to an under-vaccinated population in the United States is a distinct possibility.

The Iffluenza appears to become endemic here, but it has always been a scourge in the islands.

The agency of their effacement was an endemic disorder known as yellow fever.

It is endemic, and becomes, at apparently regular but distant periods, epidemic.

Unhappily endemic forms of disease went on steadily increasing in prevalence and rates of mortality.

We have not heard of any endemic in Australia; the epidemic has never visited its shores.

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