Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A sudden increase.
- noun A sudden eruption; an outburst.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A breaking out; an outburst; a sudden and violent manifestation: as, an outbreak of fever; an outbreak of popular indignation.
- noun A rupture of the peace; a public disturbance or riot.
- To break or burst forth.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A bursting forth; eruption; insurrection; mutiny; revolt.
- noun A sudden beginning of a violent event.
- noun A sudden occurrence or manifestation; -- usually of disease or emotion, in one person or a group.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
eruption , sudden appearance - noun A
sudden increase . - noun An
outburst or suddeneruption , especially ofviolence and mischief. - noun An uproar,
riot - noun uncountable A geological layer that breaks out
- verb intransitive To
burst out - verb intransitive To break forth
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a sudden violent spontaneous occurrence (usually of some undesirable condition)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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This isn't the apocalypse, though, it's comedy, and the outbreak is averted by cool temps and a massive roofie from the authorities (who show up six hours later on the dot).
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The first sign of the outbreak is adding superfluous letters to existing words like untill.
BW3 Has A Nuanced Understanding Of Food Safety - The Consumerist 2008
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Schelling to what he called his outbreak into reality.
An Outline of the History of Christian Thought Since Kant Edward Caldwell Moore 1900
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Last week, while Treasury continued to deny that the ever-escalating foreclosure fraud outbreak is a serious problem, investors started placing bets that Bank of America's stock will sink below $3.00 a share.
Zach Carter: Are Treasury's Knives Coming Out Against Elizabeth Warren? Zach Carter 2010
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The outbreak is Haiti's worst medical emergency since the devastating January 12 earthquake.
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Editor's note: The World Health Organization has increased its alert level to 5 which suggests that the Swine Flu outbreak is very serious.
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Coupled with recent outbreaks of measles and mumps and ongoing challenges to control pertussis, this outbreak is concerning because it suggests that in some areas, where not enough people are being immunized, the diseases are threatening a comeback.
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"This outbreak is likely to get much larger given our experience with cholera epidemics in the past, particularly in a population that really has no protective immunity," Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization, the regional office of the World Health Organization, said Friday.
Deaths From Cholera Top 150 in Haiti Betsy McKay 2010
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The type of E. coli that caused this outbreak is one of the leading causes of food contamination.
Vaccine Science 2010
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The outbreak is centered in the farming region of Artibonite, where experts fear an infection in the Artibonite River has enabled the illness to spread quickly.
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