as in epidemics
medical
an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area or throughout the world
The 1918 flu pandemic claimed millions of lives. the AIDS pandemic
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Recent Examples of pandemics
Influenza is capable of even worse—sparking global pandemics, for instance, including some of the deadliest in history.
—
Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2026
Autism, pandemics, school shootings, child abuse—all these problems are responded to by some in ways that differ only minimally from understanding illness as following from the lip-smacking of dead women.
—Rivka Galchen, New Yorker, 7 Jan. 2026
UCHealth’s financial reserve, which is typical for a system of our size, enables us to care for patients during times of uncertainty, including pandemics, federal government shutdowns that delay or stop payments to hospitals, or dramatic increases in expenses.
—Elizabeth B. Concordia, Denver Post, 29 Dec. 2025
The Black Death — one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, estimated to have killed up to half of Europe’s population — might have been set in motion by a volcanic eruption, a new study suggests.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 4 Dec. 2025
Specifically, their goal is to ensure that urgent issues like land use, housing, climate change, pandemics, economic shifts, and rapid advances in automation and technology are addressed as action items.
—Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 4 Dec. 2025
This may help explain why these pandemics caused serious illness in people.
—New Atlas, 1 Dec. 2025
From climate change to global pandemics to the energy and water crises and more, none of these problems are going to solve themselves.
—Big Think, 28 Nov. 2025
Sam Altman, of OpenAI, has claimed that generative AI could bring about the end of human civilization, and that AI poses a risk of extinction on a par with nuclear warfare and global pandemics.
—Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pandemics.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pandemics. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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