Endemic \En*de"mic\, Endemical \En*de"mic*al\, a. [Gr. ?, ?; ? +
? the people: cf. F. end['e]mique.] (Med.)
1. Peculiar to a district or particular locality, or class of
persons; as, an endemic disease.
[1913 Webster]
Note: An endemic disease is one which is constantly present
to a greater or less degree in any place, as
distinguished from an epidemic disease, which prevails
widely at some one time, or periodically, and from a
sporadic disease, of which a few instances occur now
and then.
[1913 Webster]
2. Belonging or native to a particular people or country;
native as distinguished from introduced or naturalized;
hence, regularly or ordinarily occurring in a given
region; local; as, a plant endemic in Australia; -- often
distinguished from exotic.
The traditions of folklore . . . form a kind of
endemic symbolism. --F. W. H.
Myers.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
endemical
adj : of or relating to a disease (or anything resembling a
disease) constantly present to greater or lesser extent
in a particular locality; "diseases endemic to the
tropics"; "endemic malaria"; "food shortages and
starvation are endemic in certain parts of the world"
[syn: endemic] [ant: epidemic, ecdemic]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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