What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Epidemic vs Pathology - What's the difference?

epidemic | pathology |

As nouns the difference between epidemic and pathology

is that epidemic is a widespread disease that affects many individuals in a population while pathology is (medicine) the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences.

As an adjective epidemic

is like or having to do with an epidemic; widespread.

epidemic

English

(wikipedia epidemic)

Alternative forms

* epidemick (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A widespread disease that affects many individuals in a population.
  • (epidemiology) An occurrence of a disease or disorder in a population at a frequency higher than that expected in a given time period.

    • Antonyms

    * endemic

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Like or having to do with an epidemic; widespread
    • Epidemic hysteria occurred upon the incumbent’s reelection.
  • * 2003 , James C. Howell, Preventing & Reducing Juvenile Delinquency: A Comprehensive Framework , SAGE Publications, ISBN 978-0-7619-2509-5, page 19:
    • This proportion increased about 5% from 1988 to 1992—hardly a change of epidemic proportions.

    Antonyms

    * endemic

    Related terms

    * pandemic

    See also

    * epizootic * enzootic

    Anagrams

    *

    pathology

    English

    Noun

    (pathologies)
  • (medicine) The branch of medicine concerned with the study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences.
  • The medical specialty that provides microscopy and other laboratory services (e.g., cytology, histology) to clinicians.
    • The surgeon sent a specimen of the cyst to the pathology department for staining and analysis to determine its histologic subtype.
  • Pathosis: any deviation from a healthy or normal structure or function; abnormality; illness or malformation.

    • Derived terms

    * pathologist * anatomical pathology * chemical pathology * cytopathology * experimental pathology * forensic pathology * histopathology * plant pathology * psychopathology

    Related terms

    * pathologic * pathological * pathobiology * pathophysiology

    Usage notes

    * Some house style guides for medical publications avoid the "illness" sense of pathology'' (disease, state of ill health) and replace it with ''pathosis''. The rationale is that the ''-ology'' form should be reserved for the "study of disease" sense and for the medical specialty that provides microscopy and other laboratory services (e.g., cytology, histology) to clinicians. This rationale drives similar usage preferences about ''etiology'' ("cause" sense versus "study of causes" sense), ''methodology'' ("methods" sense versus "study of methods" sense), and other ''-ology'' words. Not all such , because most physicians don't do so in their own speech (and the context makes clear the sense intended). Another limitation is that ''pathology'' meaning "illness" has an adjectival form (''pathologic''), but the corresponding adjectival form of ''pathosis'' (''pathotic'') is idiomatically missing from English (defective declension), so ''pathologic'' is obligate for both senses ("diseased" and "related to the study of disease"); this likely helps keep the "illness" sense of ''pathology'' in natural use (as the readily retrieved noun counterpart to ''pathologic in the "diseased" sense).