outbreak

noun out·break \ ˈau̇t-ˌbrāk \

Updated on: 15 Apr 2018

Definition of outbreak

1 a : a sudden or violent increase in activity or currency

the outbreak of war

b : a sudden rise in the incidence of a disease

an outbreak of measles

c : a sudden increase in numbers of a harmful organism and especially an insect within a particular area

an outbreak of locusts

2 : insurrection, revolt

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See outbreak defined for kids

Examples of outbreak in a Sentence

there was an immediate outbreak of paper shuffling and a pretense of work when the supervisor passed through the room
the government quelled the outbreak with ruthless efficiency

Recent Examples of outbreak from the Web

In part a reaction to the Ebola outbreak a couple of years ago, the drill was originally scheduled for 2017 but was postponed as two of the participating hospitals dealt with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, a HHS spokeswoman said.

— nick powell, Houston Chronicle, "Federal Ebola drill taking place at UTMB in Galveston on Thursday," 11 Apr. 2018
In 2014, the final month or two of the campaign wasn’t about economic issues at all, but the rise of ISIS and the Ebola outbreak.

— dylan matthews, Vox, "Paul Ryan paved the way for Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party," 11 Apr. 2018
Riots swept the nation, both the largest of the wave of annual multi-city uprisings in the ’60s, and the last such outbreak for decades.

— vann r. newkirk ii, The Atlantic, "Fear of a Black 'Messiah'," 8 Apr. 2018
The Liberian migration to the U.S. began with the civil war, which dragged on for 14 years and killed more than 200,000 people, and flared again with the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

— nina agrawal, latimes.com, "In New York's 'Little Liberia,' immigrants get ready to leave — or go underground," 6 Apr. 2018
In January 2017, the organization launched a new nationwide network of labs that identify problematic pathogens before big outbreaks hit, NPR reports.

— caroline picard, Good Housekeeping, "The CDC Has Detected Rare "Nightmare Bacteria" in 27 States," 6 Apr. 2018
Diana DeWall of Texas Tax Back, which operates sales tax refund booths in San Antonio and Houston, said activity this year did seem to be up, even as violence outbreaks in northern Mexico reportedly deterred some shoppers.

— lynn brezosky, San Antonio Express-News, "Data shows Mexican spending for Semana Santa holy week down significantly since 2012," 6 Apr. 2018
Meanwhile, cholera outbreaks sparked unrest in other parts of northern Mozambique.

— Longreads, "Where Have You Hidden the Cholera?," 5 Apr. 2018
The Global Health Security Agenda first received almost $1 billion from a $5.4 billion emergency spending package in 2015 during the Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people.

— emily baumgaertner, New York Times, "White House Hails Success of Disease-Fighting Program, and Plans Deep Cuts," 13 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'outbreak.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.