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Webster 1913 Edition

Sporadic

Spo-rad′ic

(-răd′ĭk)
,
Adj.
[Gr. [GREEK] scattered, fr. [GREEK], [GREEK], scattered, fr. [GREEK] 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; single;
as, a
sporadic
fireball; a
sporadic
case of disease; a
sporadic
example of a flower.
Sporadic disease
(Med.)
,
a disease which occurs in single and scattered cases. See the Note under
Endemic
,
Adj.

Webster 1828 Edition

Sporadic

SPORADIC

, SPORADICAL,
Adj.
[Gr., separate, scattered; whence certain isles of Greece were called Sporades.] Separate; single; scattered; used only in reference to diseases. A sporadic disease, is one which occurs in particular persons and places, in distinction from an epidemic, which affects persons generally or in great numbers.
Sporadic diseases are opposed to epidemics, as accidental, scattered complaints, neither general nor contagious.

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