outbreak

English

Etymology

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).

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Noun

outbreak (plural outbreaks)

  1. An eruption; the sudden appearance of a rash, disease, etc.
    Any epidemic outbreak causes understandable panic.
  2. (figuratively) An outburst or sudden eruption, especially of violence and mischief.
    There has been an outbreak of broken windows in the street.
  3. A sudden increase.
    There has been an outbreak of vandalism at the school.
  4. A geological layer that breaks out.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Verb

outbreak (third-person singular simple present outbreaks, present participle outbreaking, simple past outbroke, past participle outbroken)

  1. (intransitive) To burst out.
  2. (intransitive) To break forth.

See also

Anagrams

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