| Main Entry: | epidemic |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | widespread disease |
Synonyms: |
contagion, endemic, growth, outbreak, pest, pestilence, plague, rash, scourge, spread, upsurge, wave, what's going around |
| Notes: | an endemic is a disease that is constantly present to a greater or lesser degree in people of a certain class or in people living in a particular location; an epidemic is a widespread outbreak of an infectious disease that infects many people at the same time; a pandemic is an epidemic that is geographically widespread occurring throughout a region or even throughout the world |
| Main Entry: | germ |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | microscopic organism, often causing illness |
Synonyms: |
antibody, bacterium, bug*, disease, microbe, microorganism, parasite, pathogen, plague, virus, what's going around |
| Main Entry: | illness |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | disease; bad health |
Synonyms: |
affliction, ailing, ailment, attack, breakdown, bug*, collapse, complaint, confinement, convalescence, disability, diseasedness, disorder, disturbance, dose, failing health, fit, flu, ill health, indisposition, infirmity, malady, malaise, poor health, prostration, relapse, seizure, sickness, syndrome, unhealth, virus, what's going around |
Antonyms: |
good health, health, well-being, wellness |
| Main Entry: | infection |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | contamination |
Synonyms: |
bug*, communicability, contagion, contagiousness, corruption, defilement, disease, epidemic, flu, germs, impurity, insanitation, poison, pollution, septicity, virus, what's going around |
Antonyms: |
sanitation, sterility |