superspreader
Americannoun
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Pathology. a person who spreads a contagious disease more easily and widely than the average infected person.
About forty percent of the superspreaders had no symptoms of the virus.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of superspreader
First recorded in 1970–75
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.
Most transmission seems to occur after a person develops symptoms; the long incubation period allows for plenty of time to do contact tracing; and superspreader events seem to contribute to most infections.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2026
“Even in Argentina there, my recollection is there have been about three superspreader events,” said Gregory Mertz, an infectious-disease doctor at the University of New Mexico’s Health Sciences Center who studies the hantavirus.
From MarketWatch • May 5, 2026
"This looks like a superspreader event, with ongoing spread within the halls of residence in the universities," Hopkins added.
From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026
"And the fact that superspreader events play such a significant role in the early stages of an epidemic supports the hypothesis that the real network of contacts is, like many other social networks, highly heterogeneous."
From Science Daily • Jan. 9, 2024
The rally was later declared a superspreader event by the National Institute of Health, and Smash Mouth said they received hate mail for performing there.
From BBC • Sep. 4, 2023
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.
