From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Endemic \En*dem"ic\, n. (Med.)
An endemic disease.
[1913 Webster]
Fear, which is an endemic latent in every human heart,
sometimes rises into an epidemic. --J. B. Heard.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
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.]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
endemic
adj 1: 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}, {endemical}] [ant: {ecdemic},
{epidemic}]
2: native to or confined to a certain region; "the islands have
a number of interesting endemic species" [ant:
{cosmopolitan}, {widely distributed}]
3: originating where it is found; "the autochthonal fauna of
Australia includes the kangaroo"; "autochthonous rocks and
people and folktales"; "endemic folkways"; "the Ainu are
indigenous to the northernmost islands of Japan" [syn:
{autochthonal}, {autochthonic}, {autochthonous}, {endemic},
{indigenous}]
n 1: 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 [syn: {endemic}, {endemic disease}]
2: a plant that is native to a certain limited area; "it is an
endemic found only this island"
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