Dictionary

plandemic en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /plænˈdɛmɪk/

Etymology

Blend of plan + pandemic.

Meanings

1. (informal, neologism) A deliberately planned pandemic, typically supposed as part of a conspiracy theory. (Often associated with COVID-19.)
   • But before all that, we cannot deny that there are things that still are up in the air as to their veracity. Like whether the virus is man-made or is something natural, whether it came from China or wherever, whether lockdown, ecq, gcq are the right thing to do, whether we have a real pandemic or a ‘plandemic,’ etc. 2020 May 6, Roy Cimagala, “Chill it out, take it slow”, in BusinessWeek Mindanao, volume 10, number 135, page 4:
   • People believe in a “#Plandemic” because it fits into existing convictions. A lot of people already believe — not without reason — that pharmaceutical companies cash in on suffering. Many people have heard that government labs do research on biological weapons. All true. […] All of these mind-sets are potential vectors for the viral #plandemic. 2020 May 8, David Von Drehle, “Why people believe in a ‘plandemic’”, in The Washington Post:
   • My poker face must have slipped, because she said, “You can look it up. It’s called ‘plandemic’ because it was all planned – like 9/11.” […] The “plandemic” theory is not limited to this one person. It was probably behind a piece of graffiti I saw later that said something about a COVID patent from 2006. 2020 April 12, Greg Keisch, “The View From Here: Looking for the ‘plan’ behind COVID”, in Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel:
   • She observed that people working in the field of bodily care seemed particularly drawn to anti-vax, anti-mask, “plandemic” beliefs. 2023 November 15, Katherine Rowland, “Naomi Klein on wellness culture: ‘We really are alive on the knife’s edge’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
2. (informal, neologism) A proliferation or overabundance of plans, especially plans for a pandemic.
   • Does it justify the "plandemic" of plans that have consumed our society over the last year? Everyone now seems to have a pandemic plan – governments, businesses, schools, churches, universities. There are more pandemic plans in the world than there are human cases of bird flu. 2006 July 11, Peter Curson, “Beware the pandemic of hysteria”, in The Sydney Morning Herald:
   • In hospital, ventilators were bought, stocks were piled and thousand of man-hours were spent sitting on committees and drafting doomsday plans. Result? No pandemic but a national plandemic. 2010 April, “Lemmingaid: they say it's painless”, in JICS, volume 11, number 2, →DOI:
   • At the end of the day, though, it all comes down to implementation and execution. Yet currently we are experiencing a “plandemic”—a proliferation of plans. Unless and until the focus shifts to competent execution, the nation’s preparedness posture will not be solidly grounded. 2006, Frank J. Cilluffo, “Biodefense and Pandemic Influenza”, in Hearing Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations. Special Hearing: May 23, 2006—Washington, DC (United States Senate, One Hundred Ninth Congress, Second Session), Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, pages 22–23:

Forms

Relateds

scamdemic · endemic

Translations (10)

fr plandémie (planned pandemic) · tr plandemi (planned pandemic) · ro plandemie (planned pandemic) · nl plandemie (planned pandemic) · fi plandemia (planned pandemic) · es plandemia (planned pandemic) · ru пландеми́я (planned pandemic) · fi suunniteltu pandemia (planned pandemic) · ja プランデミック (planned pandemic) · de Plandemie (planned pandemic)