OUT BREAKS Synonyms: 59 Similar and Opposite Words

outbreaks

noun

plural of outbreak

as in flurries

a sudden and usually temporary growth of activity there was an immediate outbreak of paper shuffling and a pretense of work when the supervisor passed through the room

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in insurrections

open fighting against authority (as one's own government) the government quelled the outbreak with ruthless efficiency

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of outbreaks That monitoring period was set because symptoms of hantavirus have taken as long as 42 days to appear in previous outbreaks. —

Josh Funk, Chicago Tribune, 22 June 2026 Other factors, including the early stages of hurricane season and periodic Saharan dust outbreaks, can also influence conditions, but are less consistent drivers at this range. —

Brandi D. Addison, USA Today, 22 June 2026 Some outbreaks still cropped up in the US after that – the largest in 1972, when Texas alone had 90,000 cases – but experts say the effort was beyond successful. —

Jen Christensen, CNN Money, 22 June 2026 Utah has spent the past year fighting measles outbreaks — a grim milestone that could affect whether the United States can keep its measles-free designation. —

Devi Shastri, Fortune, 20 June 2026 Canada lost its status last year after ongoing outbreaks. —

Devi Shastri, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2026 The more common Zaire virus, which now has a vaccine, was responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease. —

ABC News, 15 June 2026 Most Ebola countermeasure work has focused on the Ebola virus, which has caused larger outbreaks than Bundibugyo and was also treated as a potential biological warfare threat. —

Paul Adepoju, Scientific American, 14 June 2026 Three more lots of moringa supplement have been recalled, the lots linked to one of the two ongoing salmonella outbreaks being investigated by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. —

David J. Neal, Miami Herald, 13 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for outbreaks

Noun

But Gaethje slammed that door with more flurries, battering Topuria in a way the former champion had never experienced before.

— Mark Puleo, New York Times, 15 June 2026
The players rotated quickly, setting flurries of picks and cutting, creating space by driving to the basket, stretching the defense to the point of breaking, and then flinging the ball to the open man in the corner.

— Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 7 June 2026