outbreak

B2 Topic:Health & Medicine

US /ˈaʊtbɹeɪk/ See IPA manual

Freq #11161

Meanings

1

noun
The sudden start of something unpleasant, especially a disease.

The country is dealing with a serious outbreak of flu.
2

noun
A sudden burst of violence, anger, or trouble.

The arrest led to an outbreak of protests across the city.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the sudden start of... irruption

2 noun · a sudden burst of violence,... outburst tumult

Opposites

inbreak

Word family

Forms outbreaks

Derived forms interoutbreakintraoutbreakpostoutbreakpreoutbreak

Etymology

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”), an…

outbreken Middle English ūtābrecan Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Health & Medicine

External links

# outbreak

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈaʊtbɹeɪk/
**Frequency rank:** 11161

## Meanings
1. The sudden start of something unpleasant, especially a disease.
2. A sudden burst of violence, anger, or trouble.

## Examples
- The country is dealing with a serious outbreak of flu.
- The arrest led to an outbreak of protests across the city.

## Antonyms
- inbreak

## Derived Forms
- interoutbreak
- intraoutbreak
- postoutbreak
- preoutbreak

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: outbreken
- Root: ūtābrecan

## Etymology
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”), an…

## AI Etymology
Outbreak comes 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 historical chain includes Middle English outbreken and Old English ūtābrecan. Modern senses include the sudden start of something unpleasant, especially a disease and a sudden burst of violence, anger, or trouble. The wider word family includes derivatives such as interoutbreak, intraoutbreak, postoutbreak, and preoutbreak.

## Topics
- Health & Medicine

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