How to Use epidemic in a Sentence

epidemic

1 of 2 adjective
  • The idea came at a time of near epidemic levels of gun violence.
    — Megan Cassidy, SFChronicle.com, 19 Sep. 2019
  • The anti-epidemic agency didn't respond to questions sent to its office by fax.
    — Arkansas Online, 2 Dec. 2022
  • But carjackings are up, and thefts from vehicles are epidemic.
    — Courtland Milloy, Washington Post, 19 July 2022
  • Calls to Beihai’s anti-epidemic task force and tourism agencies went unanswered.
    — Linda Lew, Bloomberg.com, 22 July 2022
  • Telangana has not enacted strict anti-epidemic measures, only a curfew at night.
    — CNN, 28 Apr. 2021
  • Officials also say the number of evictions is soaring to an epidemic level as rents continue to rise.
    — Chabeli Herrera, orlandosentinel.com, 10 Dec. 2019
  • Severe anti-epidemic measures imposed in response to the outbreak have been lifted, the agency said.
    — Stella Kim, NBC News, 11 Aug. 2022
  • When a disease reaches epidemic levels, the first obligation for leaders in any country is to protect their own people.
    — Andrew Natsios, The Conversation, 11 Feb. 2020
  • Power abuses are epidemic in an industry where employment is contingent and hard to obtain and much of the workforce is in the first bloom of youth.
    — Vogue, 4 Nov. 2021
  • The economic fallout isn’t something epidemic models address, Longini says—but that may have to change.
    — Martin Enserink, Science | AAAS, 25 Mar. 2020
  • Taiwan formed an epidemic response command center and in late January; that same week, the island confirmed its first case.
    — Jessie Yeung, CNN, 4 Mar. 2020
  • The economy may be able to return to pre-epidemic levels by the end of next year or early 2022, Scholz said.
    — Mariajose Vera, Bloomberg.com, 5 Sep. 2020
  • Yet there seem to be some crucial differences between the virus that caused an epidemic 17 years ago and the one causing a global pandemic today.
    — TheWeek, 28 Mar. 2020
  • Across the country, cities are imposing anti-epidemic restrictions, and households are hoarding supplies, fearing they will be locked down next.
    — Michael Schuman, The Atlantic, 18 Apr. 2022
  • There is no question that communication about public business though private accounts and devices is at an epidemic level.
    — Thomas Peele, The Mercury News, 25 Mar. 2017
  • Global stock markets have also sunk as investors face up to the reality of a return to pre-epidemic monetary policy.
    — Billy Bambrough, Forbes, 29 Jan. 2022
  • Still, as of last week, visits to retail establishments and restaurants were about 17 percent lower than pre-epidemic levels.
    — Anna Kuchment, Dallas News, 7 June 2020
  • The result was that thousands of unknowing carriers spread the viral plague while the government covered up its epidemic proportions.
    — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 20 Feb. 2020
  • The epidemic year was an outlier on every measure, with the warmest winter, the warmest spring and the heaviest early rainfall in 10 years.
    — Maryn McKenna, New York Times, 20 Apr. 2017
  • Collier said that overall, activity on Dauphin Island had rebounded to very near pre-epidemic levels.
    — al, 23 June 2020
  • Some medical institutions were not linked to an epidemic information network and failed to report data in time, Xinhua said.
    — NBC News, 17 Apr. 2020
  • But the country has seemingly been spared from a major wave of infections, thanks in part to stringent anti-epidemic measures, controls on the movement of people and the border lockdown.
    — Joshua Berlinger, CNN, 20 Jan. 2021
  • These, alas, are often taken out of context, something that seems epidemic among conservative social media types who aspire to political office.
    — Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 26 Oct. 2017
  • While the officials agreed to ease some anti-epidemic measures, including revoking a weekend curfew and opening government offices, schools will remain shut.
    — Rhea Mogul and Vedika Sud, CNN, 27 Jan. 2022
  • When chronic inner-city problems — epidemic levels of murder, drug use, and out-of-wedlock births — cannot be solved, frustrated progressives start looking for extraneous targets to blame.
    — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 31 Aug. 2017
  • The prior pessimism of most epidemic models will either be confirmed or refuted, depending on the percentages of Americans who have already weathered the virus.
    — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 16 Apr. 2020
  • Reaching epidemic proportions on no less than five occasions during the late 15th and early 16th centuries, sweating sickness was highly lethal.
    — Lauren Hubbard, Town & Country, 24 May 2022
  • The razing has reached truly epidemic proportions in the Park Cities, where there is zero landmark protection for even the most significant works of architecture.
    — Dallas News, 12 Jan. 2022
  • And many more children died in the early years of life, some from epidemic infectious diseases such as smallpox and diphtheria, or from complications that followed routine infections such as pneumonia after measles.
    — Perri Klass, Harper's Magazine, 25 May 2021
  • In Shakespeare, epidemic disease is present for the most part as a steady, low-level undertone, surfacing in his characters’ speeches most vividly in metaphorical expressions of rage and disgust.
    — Stephen Greenblatt, The New Yorker, 7 May 2020

epidemic

2 of 2 noun
  • And this time, the epidemics won’t stay silent.
    — Ginger Gentile, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2025
  • Yet the epidemic is far from over.
    — Christina Ray Stanton, Time, 2 June 2026
  • It's even called an epidemic by many.
    — Outside Online, 18 Mar. 2026
  • There was a lot of meth use and the start of an opioid epidemic.
    — J.j. Anselmi, The New Republic, 21 Dec. 2020
  • Putin this week said the country had passed the peak of the epidemic.
    — Henry Meyer, Bloomberg.com, 5 June 2020
  • The workplace has not been spared in this epidemic, of course.
    — Lila MacLellan, Quartz at Work, 7 Feb. 2020
  • And epidemics like mpox can be controlled at their origin.
    — Jean Kaseya, Time, 20 Aug. 2025
  • But the face—and race—of the opioid epidemic has changed in the past decade.
    — Melba Newsome, Scientific American, 17 Nov. 2022
  • It's based on stories about epidemics of twitching among young girls.
    — Mary Kaye Schilling, Town & Country, 26 June 2014
  • But can coups, like the pathogens of many epidemics, be contagious?
    — Jonathan Powell, The Conversation, 15 Dec. 2025
  • The shape on the epidemic curve is a classic spike — sharply up, then sharply down.
    — Paul Sisson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Aug. 2022
  • The opioid epidemic seemed to play a role.
    — Jayme Fraser, USA Today, 14 May 2026
  • The offensive woes have been an epidemic since the turn of the new year.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 26 Jan. 2018
  • This time at least the epidemic—and the need for a vaccine—is real.
    — Marc Siegel, WSJ, 7 Sep. 2020
  • This epidemic threat to public safety must come to an end.
    — Adam Harrington, CBS News, 19 Mar. 2026
  • South Africa was at the center of the epidemic.
    — Juana Summers, NPR, 7 June 2026
  • The increase of the epidemic has slowed down their plotlines as well.
    — Bea Lewis, sun-sentinel.com, 24 Sep. 2021
  • This bill will not end the epidemic of gun violence overnight.
    — Christopher Keating, Hartford Courant, 13 June 2022
  • These laws are, first of all, in response to an epidemic that doesn’t exist.
    — Katherine Timpf, National Review, 18 Dec. 2019
  • In fact, the virus will be with us forever, but its epidemic force will have been sapped.
    — The Politics Of Everything, The New Republic, 16 Dec. 2020
  • One of the papers claimed there was an epidemic of dog rape at dog parks and that men should be leashed like dogs.
    — oregonlive, 13 Sep. 2021
  • If this epidemic is contained, the world should learn the lesson.
    — The Economist, 24 May 2018
  • This city has one of the worst local covid-19 epidemics in the country.
    — The Economist, 23 May 2020
  • All but six survived the epidemic.
    — Tom Levenson, Time, 20 May 2026
  • That was during the crack epidemic.
    — March 8, CBS News, 8 Mar. 2026
  • The last epidemic also showed the route to success.
    — Tom Frieden, STAT, 6 June 2026
  • And as if that weren’t enough the aids epidemic was at its height when Frances met Frank.
    — Mary Costello, The New Yorker, 9 Oct. 2023
  • The only way to explain this cascade of pills is an epidemic of fraud.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 26 Oct. 2017
  • The burnout epidemic isn’t just a mental health story.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 14 May 2026
  • Some of my own family members and friends in the state have been hit by this epidemic.
    — Clay Marsh, STAT, 12 July 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'epidemic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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