outbreak

/ˌaʊtˈbreɪk/

/ˈaʊtbreɪk/

Other forms: outbreaks

A sudden or abrupt onset of something really bad is an outbreak. You could experience an outbreak of measles or an outbreak of violence; either way, try to protect yourself.

When you talk about an outbreak of something, it's almost always something terrible, or at least unwanted. You might hear about an outbreak of war in a distant country, or an outbreak of violence in a big city, or an outbreak of disease among farm animals. Outbreak started as a Middle English verb around 1300, becoming a noun meaning "eruption" about three hundred years later.

Definitions of outbreak

1. noun

   a sudden violent spontaneous occurrence (usually of some undesirable condition)
   “the outbreak of hostilities”

   synonyms: epidemic, eruption, irruption

   types:

   epidemic

   a widespread outbreak of an infectious disease; many people are infected at the same time

   recrudescence

   a return of something after a period of abatement

   pandemic

   an epidemic that is geographically widespread; occurring throughout a region or even throughout the world

   type of:

   happening, natural event, occurrence, occurrent

   an event that happens