epidemic
[noun]
Synonyms: spread, contagion, growth, outbreak, plague, rash, upsurge, wave

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

ep‧i‧dem‧ic /ˌepəˈdemɪk◂, ˌepɪˈdemɪk◂/ noun [countable]
[Date: 1600-1700; Language: French; Origin: épidémique, from Greek epidemos 'visiting']

1. a large number of cases of a disease that happen at the same time ⇒ pandemic:
Over 500 people died during last year’s flu epidemic.
epidemic of
an epidemic of cholera

2. a sudden increase in the number of times that something bad happens
epidemic of
Britain is suffering an epidemic of petty crime.
—epidemic adjective [only before noun]:
Violent crime is reaching epidemic proportions in some cities.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

epidemic
noun
ADJ. major | widespread, worldwide | cholera, flu, typhoid, etc.
EPIDEMIC + VERB break out, strike (sth) A typhus epidemic struck in the winter of 1919?20.
spread, sweep (sth) the flu epidemic sweeping the country
PREP. during/in an/the ~ Over fifty people died during the flu epidemic last winter.
~ of an epidemic of cholera
PHRASES reach epidemic proportions Marriage breakdown in the West has reached epidemic proportions.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲