Meaning of outbreak in English

outbreak

noun [ C ]

/ˈaʊt.breɪk/ us

/ˈaʊt.breɪk/

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a time when something suddenly begins, especially a disease or something else dangerous or unpleasant:

an outbreak of cholera/food poisoning/rioting/war

Last weekend saw further thundery outbreaks.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

the start of something

beginningLet's go back to the beginning. Can you tell me when you arrived at the crime scene?
startI didn't like him from the very start.
endThis is it – the end of the tour.
openingThe opening of the ceremony was marred by protest.
commencementWhat is the commencement date of their contract?
kick-offWhat time is the kick-off for the banquet and show?

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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Beginnings and starts

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Disease & illness - general words

(Definition of outbreak from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

outbreak | American Dictionary

outbreak

noun [ C ]

/ˈɑʊtˌbreɪk/

Add to word list Add to word list

a sudden appearance of something, esp. of a disease or something else dangerous or unpleasant:

an outbreak of cholera

the outbreak of war

(Definition of outbreak from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of outbreak

outbreak

First, before the outbreak, a large proportion of the population was susceptible because of the geographical characteristics of the health district.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, there are some things that are difficult to explain if we wish to argue that garlic caused this outbreak.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The median time from onset of illness in the first patient until investigation of the outbreak was 27 days (range 0 -161).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The source of the outbreak was traced to an untreated private water supply.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It was therefore held that there were at least four primary outbreaks in the first fortnight - the index outbreak plus the three ' non-windborne ' outbreaks.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This may explain the different dynamic of the outbreak that is typical for person-to-person transmission.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

However, mortality rates are still far from sufficient to keep host/prey populations under control and all investigated sites suffer from unabated outbreaks.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Vagility of pest populations may result in difficulty predicting temporal and spatial pest outbreaks, and influence genetic resistance to chemical control.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These outbreaks pose a significant threat to the general population.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

We describe the results of a case-control study and environmental investigation into the source and vehicle(s) responsible for this outbreak.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Failure to adequately and consistently implement our earlier recommendations probably contributed to the second outbreak.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This article advances an alternative to existing theories that explains the outbreak of this war by reference to both structural and organisational factors.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In the described outbreak, contact investigations were extended to contacts at low risk of infection mainly because of public demand for testing.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These networks are used to reveal trends in the evolution of different serotypes, monitor their antimicrobial susceptibility, detect outbreaks, and contribute to their investigation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

From recognized outbreaks, all cases except one were excluded.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with outbreak

outbreak

These are words often used in combination with outbreak.

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current outbreak

However, in the current outbreak, contamination of food cannot be implicated.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

future outbreak

The following is a discussion about possible transmission modes of the virus and recommendations for future outbreak control and prevention.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

initial outbreak

Reporting the 1737 recurrence, the press contextualized it immediately against the initial outbreak of 1730, an indication of the indelible character of incendiarism on the city's collective memory.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with outbreak

What is the pronunciation of outbreak?

Translations of outbreak

in Chinese (Traditional)

（尤指疾病、危險或不快之事的）發作，暴發，突然發生…

Meaning of outbreak in English

outbreak | American Dictionary

Examples of outbreak

Collocations with outbreak

outbreak

Translations of outbreak

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