Meanings
plural outbreaks
- An eruption; the sudden appearance of a rash, disease, etc.
Any epidemic outbreak causes understandable panic.
1 more example
In a December 5 post on X, CDC Acting Director Jim O’Neill said there was no epidemiological evidence linking the Texas outbreak and the ongoing cases in South Carolina. A U.S. Health and Human Services spokesman confirmed that the CDC has found no epidemiological evidence linking ongoing outbreaks to Texas, but said many recent U.S. cases share the same genotype and have no known source of infection, “which could indicate ongoing domestic transmission.”
2026 January 9, “US builds case to retain measles elimination status as infections mount”, in CNN, sourced from Reuters, archived from the original on 14 Feb 2026 - A sudden increase.
There has been an outbreak of vandalism at the school.
1 more example
One such investigation described how kindness can be contagious. It was sparked by reports of an outbreak of kindness on a cold December morning in 2012.
2025 November 13, Kamala Thiagarajan, “If you're going to be kind to another human, today is the day to do it!”, in NPR, archived from the original on 02 Dec 2025
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of breakout (“escape from prison”).
More synonyms by meaning
nouna sudden violent spontaneous occurrence (usually of some undesirable condition)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishūtābrecan“to break out”
- Middle Englishoutbreken
- Englishoutbreak
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic تَفَشٍّ
- تَفَشٍّ (tafaššin)an eruption, sudden appearance
Bulgarian изригване, изблик
- изригване (izrigvane)an eruption, sudden appearance
- изблик (izblik)a sudden increase
- въстание (văstanie)(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Catalan brot
- brotan eruption, sudden appearance
Chinese Mandarin 爆發 /爆发, 激增
- 爆發 /爆发 (bàofā)an eruption, sudden appearance
- 激增 (jīzēng)a sudden increase
- 一系列 (yīxìliè)(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
- 突發事端 /突发事端 (tūfā shìduān)(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Danish udbrud, bølge
- udbrudan eruption, sudden appearance
- bølgea sudden increase
Dutch uitbarsting, uitbraak
- uitbarstingan eruption, sudden appearance
- uitbraakan eruption, sudden appearance
- uitbarstinga sudden increase
- explosiea sudden increase
- uitbarsting(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
- uitbreken(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Esperanto ekapero
- ekaperoan eruption, sudden appearance
Finnish purkaus, puhkeaminen
- purkausan eruption, sudden appearance
- puhkeaminenan eruption, sudden appearance
- aaltoa sudden increase
- purkaus(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
- puhkeaminen(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
French éruption, déclenchement
- éruptionan eruption, sudden appearance
- déclenchementan eruption, sudden appearance
- apparitionan eruption, sudden appearance
- explosiona sudden increase
- éruption(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
- explosion(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
German Ausbruch, Auftreten
- Ausbruchan eruption, sudden appearance
- Auftretenan eruption, sudden appearance
- Entfesselungan eruption, sudden appearance
- sprunghafter Anstiega sudden increase
- plötzliche Zunahmea sudden increase
- Massenvermehrung (biol.)a sudden increase
- Schwemmea sudden increase
- Ausbruch(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
- plötzliches Auftreten(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
- Lawine(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
- Flut(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Irish ráig, ráig
- ráigan eruption, sudden appearance
- ráig(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Italian scoppio, insorgenza
- scoppioan eruption, sudden appearance
- insorgenzaan eruption, sudden appearance
- diffusionea sudden increase
- esplosione(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
- eruzione(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Māori kautorohītanga, kaitorohītanga
- kautorohītangaan eruption, sudden appearance
- kaitorohītangaan eruption, sudden appearance
Persian شیوع, شیوع
- شیوع (šoyu')an eruption, sudden appearance
- شیوع (šoyu')a sudden increase
Polish wybuch, wybuch
- wybuchan eruption, sudden appearance
- wybucha sudden increase
- wybuch(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Portuguese surto
- surtoan eruption, sudden appearance
Romanian izbucnire, izbucnire
- izbucnirean eruption, sudden appearance
- izbucnire(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Russian вспы́шка, взрыв
- вспы́шка (vspýška)an eruption, sudden appearance
- взрыв (vzryv)an eruption, sudden appearance
Spanish brote, irrupción
- brotean eruption, sudden appearance
- irrupciónan eruption, sudden appearance
- surgimientoan eruption, sudden appearance
- eclosión(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
- surgimiento(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Welsh cychwyn, cychwyniad
- cychwynan eruption, sudden appearance
- cychwyniadan eruption, sudden appearance
- tarddiantan eruption, sudden appearance
- ffrwydrad(fig.) an outburst or sudden eruption, especially violent
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
outbreak. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outbreak
“outbreak.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outbreak. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “outbreak,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/outbreak.
Source: outbreak on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.