endemic

[ en-dem-ik ]

See synonyms for: endemic endemics on Thesaurus.com

adjectiveRarely en·dem·i·cal

[en-dem-i-kuhl] /ɛnˈdɛm ɪ kəl/ .

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.
belonging exclusively or confined to a particular place: When traveling, he caught a fever endemic to the tropics.

(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

an endemic disease.

Origin of endemic

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; see en-², deme, -ic

Other words from endemic

en·dem·i·cal·ly, adverb
en·de·mism [en-duh-miz-uhm], /ˈɛn dəˌmɪz əm/, en·de·mic·i·ty [en-duh-mis-i-tee], /ˌɛn dəˈmɪs ɪ ti/, noun
non·en·dem·ic, adjective
un·en·dem·ic, adjective

Words that may be confused with endemic

endemic , epidemic, pandemic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use endemic in a sentence

That’s because enthusiast audiences naturally have higher purchase intent for products that are endemic to their passions, he added.
‘A second chance for publishers’: How Future PLC is using first-party data to sell against high-intent audiences | Kayleigh Barber | December 21, 2020 | Digiday
Traffic to Vogue’s 11 endemic sites is up 40% year over year from November 2019 to November 2020, according to Marshall, reaching a record high of a combined 58 million unique visitors last month.
How Vogue’s international approach to audience data helped it reach record readers | Kayleigh Barber | December 18, 2020 | Digiday
States have been sponsoring fast-track online courses for prospective certified nursing assistants, but they have yet to make a dent in the endemic staff shortages.
In a relentless pandemic, nursing-home workers are worn down and stressed out | Will Englund | December 3, 2020 | Washington Post
Greenberg said that there are some danger in assuming that because there is non-endemic content playing in a doctor’s office, non-endemic advertisers will pay to play against that content.
‘Not reinventing the content wheel’: Why Meredith is admitting its videos into doctors’ offices | Kayleigh Barber | November 10, 2020 | Digiday
This is why childhood infections such as measles are endemic in many parts of the world where the birth rate is high enough.
COVID-19 might not ever truly go away | By Hans Heesterbeek/The Conversation | October 13, 2020 | Popular-Science

British Dictionary definitions for endemic

endemic

/ (ɛnˈdɛmɪk) /

adjectiveAlso: endemial (ɛnˈdɛmɪəl), endemical

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

noun

an endemic disease or plant

Origin of endemic

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

Derived forms of endemic

endemically, adverb
endemism or endemicity, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for endemic

endemic

[ ĕn-dĕm′ĭk ]

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. See also epidemic pandemic.
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. Compare alien indigenous.

usage For endemic

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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