adjective
noun
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Etymology
Origin of pandemic
First recorded in 1660–70; from Late Latin pandēm(us), from Greek pándēmos “common, public” ( pan- “all” + dêm(os) “the people” + -os adjective suffix) + -ic; see pan-
Explanation
Remember the 2009 swine flu? That was a pandemic — an illness that swept over much of the globe. People fear pandemics, and with good reason. The black plague that ran through Asia and Europe in the 1300s is believed to have killed as much as half of Europe's population, between 75 and 100 million folks. The word comes from ancient Greek — pan (meaning "all") and demos (meaning "people"), or simply put — all the people. Of course, people across the globe suffer from the seasonal flu, and many die from it. But it isn't considered a pandemic because it is generally harmless to the healthy.
Vocabulary lists containing pandemic
President Obama's Farewell Address
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Human Geography - High School
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For National Pancake Day, Words With the Greek Roots "Pan-"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The old Mississippi case that was included in the fraud division’s highlights featured more than 30 defendants accused of participating in a scheme to fraudulently obtain pandemic relief loans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Since the pandemic, several new or revamped lodgings have boosted glamping and other upscale elements in a territory once better known for old cabins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Heading into the fall, travelers can find some relief in hotel prices, which fell 3.3% in July after a 2.8% decline in June, the biggest back-to-back drop since the pandemic.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
Most students getting their grades this year were in Year 7 and Year 8 in 2020 and 2021, during the Covid pandemic.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
To illustrate this, Korn points to the Spanish flu pandemic.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
The group is also fighting Becker’s bill, which would add war to the list of emergencies — such as natural disasters and pandemics — that can trigger California’s price-gouging laws.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Market corrections, recessions, depressions, pandemics and human folly, along with investing in individual stocks despite the standard advice to diversify your holdings, can all take a toll on retirement savings.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
Influenza A has also driven multiple pandemics, including the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
Outbreaks and pandemics are often accompanied by misinformation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
Not only do archaeologists like Dobyns, Perttula, and Ramenofsky argue that unrecorded pandemics swept through the Americas, they claim that the diseases themselves were of unprecedented deadliness.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
