pandemic
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A disease that affects a wide geographical area and a large proportion of the population.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pandehmikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
pænˈdɛmɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
epidemiology
A pandemic disease; a disease that affects a wide geographical area and a large proportion of the population.
specifically
The COVID-19 pandemic.
adjective
epidemiology
Of a disease: epidemic over a wide geographical area and affecting a large proportion of the population; also, of or pertaining to a disease of this nature.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (epidemiology) A pandemic disease; a disease that affects a wide geographical area and a large proportion of the population.
Used this way, pandemic is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Geography/travel
- Weather/aviation
- Technical/specialist writing
- Medicine/healthcare
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use pandemic
- “The world faced a serious health crisis during the recent global pandemic.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- epidemicnoun
- vaccinationnoun
- cdcnoun
- infectedadjective
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.