outbreak

CEFRB2

/ˈaʊtbɹeɪk/

noun

Türkçe translations

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In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A sudden start or spread of disease, violence, or trouble.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A sudden increase.

Examples

  • A chain of events led to the outbreak of the war.

  • Health officials worked to contain the disease outbreak.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
2
Synonyms
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An outburst or sudden eruption, especially of violence and mischief.

  2. An eruption; the sudden appearance of a rash, disease, etc.

  3. Synonym of breakout (“escape from prison”).

More examples

In context

  • There is no need to be unnecessarily anxious about the outbreak.

  • There has been an outbreak of broken windows in the street.

  • There has been an outbreak of vandalism at the school.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

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The hospital is dealing with a serious blank of the flu virus among patients.

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Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English outbreken, oute-breken, from Old English ūtābrecan (“to break out”), equivalent to out- + break. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uutbreeke (“to break out, burst out”), West Frisian útbrekke (“to break out”), Dutch uitbreken (“to break out, burst out”), German ausbrechen (“to break out, erupt”). The noun is cognate with Saterland Frisian Uutbreek (“outbreak”), West Frisian útbrek (“outbreak”), Dutch uitbraak (“outbreak”), and German Ausbruch (“outbreak”), and is comparable to Danish udbrud (“outbreak”), Faroese and Icelandic útbrot (“rash”), Norwegian utbrudd (“outbreak”), and Swedish utbrott (“outbreak”).