a. Also 7 -ick. [ad. med.L. sporadic-us (13th c.), a. Gr. σποραδικός, f. σποραδ-, σποράς scattered, dispersed, f. the stem of σπορά, σπόρος sowing: cf. σπείρειν to sow, scatter. So F. sporadique (1690), It. sporadico, Sp. esporadico.]
1. Path. Of diseases: Occurring in isolated instances, or in a few cases only; not epidemic.
a. 1689. Sydenham, Wks. (1788), I. i. 6. These I call intercurrent or sporadic acute diseases, because they happen at all times, when epidemics rage.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Sporadic, in Medicine, an Epithet given to such Diseases as have some special or particular Cause, and are dispersed here and there.
1752. Phil. Trans., XLVII. 385. The plague … has been mostly sporadic, seldom epidemical.
1843. R. J. Graves, Syst. Clin. Med., xiv. 152. Other sporadic and epidemic fevers.
1845. G. E. Day, trans. Simon’s Anim. Chem., I. 326. A man who died of sporadic cholera.
1884. Manch. Exam., 25 June, 5/2. The disease is distinctly sporadic, or due to local causes, and therefore unlikely to spread.
2. Scattered or dispersed, occurring singly or in very small numbers, in respect of locality or local distribution.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 90. About 92 genera … are what are called sporadic, or dispersed over different and widely separated regions.
1856. S. P. Woodward, Mollusca, III. 350. Those species which characterise particular regions are called ‘endemic.’… The others, sometimes called ‘sporadic,’ possess great facilities for diffusion.
1865. Farrar, Chapt. Lang., 29. In various sporadic families, which some would call Turanian.
1877. M. Foster, Physiol., I. iii. (1878), 89. In the sporadic ganglia the evidence of automatic action seems more clear.
b. Appearing, happening, etc., now and again or at intervals; occasional.
1847. H. Bushnell, Chr. Nurture, viii. (1861), 206. Sporadic cases of sanctification.
1864. R. F. Burton, Mission to Gelele, II. 71. Sporadic heroines … are found in every clime and in all ages.
1877. Owen, Desp. Wellesley, p. xix. A series of sporadic encounters of a petty and inglorious … character.
1882. Times, 7 Feb., 9/1. Unluckily, the completion of the pacification of South Africa is retarded by the continuance of sporadic troubles in Basutoland.
c. Of single persons or things: Accidental; isolated.
1821. Syd. Smith, Wks. (1850), 316. Has any sporadic squire the right to say, that it shall be punished with death?
1875. H. James, R. Hudson, iv. 129. Rowland began to think of the Baden episode as a mere sporadic piece of disorder.
1878. Stewart & Tait, Unseen Univ., vii. § 217. 215. This production was … a sporadic or abrupt act.
3. Characterized by occasional or isolated occurrence, appearance or manifestation.
1842. Penny Cycl., XXII. 378/1. The occasional occurrence of diseases … usually epidemic, in a sporadic form.
1852. H. Rogers, Ecl. Faith (1853), 146. Its manifestation will not be sporadic, but it will be in one race as in another.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XVIII. xiv. V. 368. Meanwhile, the Austrians on front do, in a sporadic way, attack … our batteries.
1881. Westcott & Hort, Grk. N. T., Introd. § 113. All known MSS. shew … traces of sporadic and casual mixture.
