Meanings
nounflation (uncountable)
- uncountablecartographyDistortions of area; differences in the areas of objects on a map compared to true scale.
There is only inflation or deflation of scale (which we refer to generically as "flation") from whatever is designated as the standard.
2016, Sarah E. Battersby, Daniel “daan” Strebe, Michael P. Finn, “Shapes on a plane: evaluating the impact of projection distortion on spatial binning, Cartography and Geographic Information Science”, in Cartography and Geographic Information Science, →DOI
Origin
By analogy with inflation and deflation.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with flation
informationeducationlocationapplicationassociationadministrationorganizationcorporationregistrationAsianfoundationcommunicationpopulationnavigationstationaccommodationoperationpublicationvacationtransportationevaluationimplementationinstallationnation
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
flation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flation
MLA
“flation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flation. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “flation,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flation.
Source: flation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.