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  

/ ˌɛpɪˌdiːmɪəˈlɒdʒɪkəl, 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

• epidemiological adjective
• epidemiologically adverb
• epidemiologist noun

Etymology

Origin of epidemiology

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

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

Joseph Palamar, a professor at NYU Langone Health who studies drug use epidemiology, said his team examined the websites of more than 200 ketamine providers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026

"These very intense exposures of particulates have immediate impacts on the lungs," added Anna Hansell, professor of environmental epidemiology at the University of Leicester.

From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026

The rate of people under 50 being diagnosed with this cancer has risen by roughly a third since the 1990s, Helen Coleman, a cancer epidemiology professor at Queen's University Belfast, told AFP.

From Barron's • Feb. 17, 2026

“Whether or not we officially lose elimination status is an academic exercise at this point,” said Mathew Kiang, an assistant professor of epidemiology and population health at Stanford University.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 22, 2026

Even Adah, who’s becoming an expert in tropical epidemiology and strange new viruses.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver