epidemiology

American  

[ep-i-dee-mee-ol-uh-jee, -dem-ee-] / ˌɛp ɪˌdi miˈɒl ə dʒi, -ˌdɛm i- /

noun

1. the study, assessment, and analysis of public health concerns in a given population; the tracking of patterns and effects of diseases, environmental toxins, natural disasters, violence, terrorist attacks, etc..

   Without the profiles gleaned through epidemiology, our health agencies would be at a terrible loss when something like COVID-19 emerges.

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epidemiology British  

/ ˌɛpɪˌdiːmɪˈɒlədʒɪ /

noun

1. the branch of medical science concerned with the occurrence, transmission, and control of epidemic diseases

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epidemiology Scientific  

/ ĕp′ĭ-dē′mē-ŏl′ə-jē /

1. The scientific study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations.

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Other Word Forms

• epidemiologist
  noun
• epidemiological
  adjective
• epidemiologically
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of epidemiology

First recorded in 1870–75; epidemi(c) + -o- + -logy

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Explanation

Epidemiology is the study of diseases: specifically, how they are caused, how they are spread, and how they are controlled or cured. To be sure, it's a nasty job, but someone has to do it! The ancestry of the word epidemiology comes from the Greek word epidēmia, meaning "prevalence of disease." Although the actual term didn't come about to describe the study of epidemics until 1802, the Greek physician Hippocrates is called "the father of epidemiology" for being the first to study the relationship between diseases and the environments that influences them. The study of epidemiology covers a wide variety of diseases, including infectious, chronic, and neurological diseases, and even includes the study of injuries.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

epidemiology

As researchers with decades of combined experience in snakebite and tropical disease epidemiology, we came to realise that snake envenoming faces a data crisis.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026

Of the county’s 100 cases, 73 were men, 27 were women, and the median patient age was 64.5, according to a Sept. 18 epidemiology report.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

The generally high vaccination rate nationwide is keeping these outbreaks from getting worse, said Amira Roess, a global health and epidemiology professor at George Mason University’s College of Public Health.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Prof Sasieni, who specialises in cancer epidemiology at Queen Mary University of London, describes the reduction in deaths since the introduction of the vaccine as the "tip of the iceberg".

From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2026

In 2012, several further studies corroborated these initial findings, strengthening the links between these variants of mental illness and family histories and deepening questions about their etiology, epidemiology, triggers, and instigators.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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