Sporadic

Sporadic
Occurring upon occasion or in a scattered, isolated or seemingly random way. A disorder that is sporadic is by definition neither an endemic, an epidemic, nor a pandemic: {{}}An endemic is present in a community at all times but in low frequency. An endemic is continuous, as in the case of malaria in some areas of the world or as with illicit drugs in certain neighborhoods. An epidemic involves more than the expected number of cases of disease occurring in a community or region during a given period of time. An epidemic is typically a sudden severe outbreak within a region or a group as, for example, AIDS in intravenous drug users. A pandemic is an epidemic that becomes very widespread and affects a whole region, a continent, or the world. For example, AIDS is now pandemic in Africa. "Sporadic" is from the Greek ""sporadikos" meaning "scattered."
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1. Denoting a temporal pattern of disease occurrence in an animal or human population in which the disease occurs only rarely and without regularity. See endemic, epidemic, enzootic, epizootic. 2. In the genetic context denotes a singleton or sport. Several quite different and disparate phenomena are covered by this term, including a new mutation; occult nonpaternity; the chance outcome for a recessive trait in two carrier parents with a small family; extreme variability in the expression of a gene; an environmental phenocopy; a multilocal genocopy, etc. No useful properties can be predicated of all members of this class; and the term is notionally useless. 3. Occurring irregularly, haphazardly. [G. sporadikos, scattered]

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spo·rad·ic spə-'rad-ik adj occurring occasionally, singly, or in scattered instances <\sporadic diseases> compare ENDEMIC, EPIDEMIC (1)
spo·rad·i·cal·ly -i-k(ə-)lē adv

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adj.
describing a disease that occurs only occasionally or in a few isolated places. Compare endemic, epidemic.

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spo·rad·ic (spə-radґik) [from Gr. sperein to sow seed] neither endemic nor epidemic; occurring occasionally in a random or isolated manner.

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • sporadic — SPORÁDIC, Ă, sporadici, ce, adj. (Adesea adverbial) Care apare, care se manifestă pe ici, pe colo sau din când în când; lipsit de continuitate; distanţat, rar; împrăştiat, dispersat, răzleţ, izolat; întâmplător. – Din fr. sporadique. Trimis de… …   Dicționar Român

  • Sporadic — Spo*rad ic ( r[a^]d [i^]k), a. [Gr. ? scattered, fr. ?, ?, scattered, fr. ? to sow seed, to scatter like seed: cf. F. sporadique. See {Spore}.] Occurring singly, or apart from other things of the same kind, or in scattered instances; separate;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • sporadic — sporadic. См. спорадический. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • sporadic — I adjective appearing at intervals, casual, changeable, desultory, disconnected, discontinuous, disjunct, dispersed, erratic, fitful, fluctuating, immethodical, inconstant, indefinite, infrequent, intermittent, intermitting, inusitatus, irregular …   Law dictionary

  • sporadic — 1650s (implied in sporadical), from M.L. sporadicus scattered, from Gk. sporadikos scattered, from sporas (gen. sporados) scattered, from spora a sowing (see SPORE (Cf. spore)). Originally a medical term, occurring in scattered instances; the… …   Etymology dictionary

  • sporadic — *occasional, rare, scarce, *infrequent, uncommon Analogous words: scattered, dispersed (see SCATTER): sparse, exiguous, *meager …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • sporadic — [adj] on and off bits and pieces*, desultory, few, fitful, fits and starts*, hit ormiss*, infrequent, intermittent, irregular, isolated, occasional, on again off again*, random, rare, scarce, scattered, seldom, semioccasional, spasmodic, spotty,… …   New thesaurus

  • sporadic — ► ADJECTIVE ▪ occurring at irregular intervals or only in a few places. DERIVATIVES sporadically adverb. ORIGIN Greek sporadikos, from sporas scattered …   English terms dictionary

  • sporadic — [spə rad′ik] adj. [ML sporadicus < Gr sporadikos < sporas, scattered: for IE base see SPORE] 1. happening from time to time; not constant or regular; occasional 2. widely separated from others, scattered, or isolated in occurrence;… …   English World dictionary

  • sporadic E — sporadic E, an area of high ionization in the E layer of the ionosphere which interferes with the normal reflection of short wave radio …   Useful english dictionary

  • Sporadic-E — Normalerweise passieren Funksignale oberhalb der normalen Grenzfrequenz der E Schicht (rot) diese. Während eines sporadischen E Ereignisses werden die Signale (blau) entweder ganz oder teilweise in der E Schicht gebrochen, was… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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