English > epidemic disease: 1 sense > noun 1, state| Meaning | Any infectious disease that develops and spreads rapidly to many people. |
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| Narrower | epidemic pleurodynia, epidemic myalgia, myosis, diaphragmatic pleurisy, Bornholm disease | An acute infectious disease occurring in epidemic form and featuring paroxysms of pain (usually in the chest) |
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| plague, pestilence, pest, pestis | A serious (sometimes fatal) infection of rodents caused by Yersinia pestis and accidentally transmitted to humans by the bite of a flea that has bitten an infected animal |
| plague, pestilence, pest | Any epidemic disease with a high death rate |
| Broader | infectious disease | A disease transmitted only by a specific kind of contact |
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