The Collaborative International Dictionary
Endemic \En*de"mic\, Endemical \En*de"mic*al\, a. [Gr. ?, ?; ? + ? the people: cf. F. end['e]mique.] (Med.)
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Peculiar to a district or particular locality, or class of persons; as, an endemic disease.
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.
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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.
Wiktionary
a. (context archaic English) endemic
WordNet
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]