patient zero
Americannoun
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Pathology. the first known carrier of infection in an outbreak.
Public health officials are tracing all contacts of infected patients, trying to work their way back to find patient zero.
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the person or thing that is believed to be the point of origin for any spreading effect, status, or event, especially if negative.
One rowdy new student was patient zero for all kinds of classroom chaos and problem behaviors.
Etymology
Origin of patient zero
First recorded in 1985–90
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.
Understanding exactly how that happened and when is critical, and not just for my quest to get to medbeds’ patient zero.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
“Taylor Swift is patient zero for emotional contagion.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
According to Kamba, patient zero was a nurse who reported to a health facility in Ituri's provincial capital Bunia on April 24, with symptoms suggesting Ebola.
From Barron's ● May 17, 2026
They believe one of the Dutch couple who contracted the virus and died are likely to be "patient zero".
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
The news reports suggested that one of them could be patient zero.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
