OUTBREAK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Outbreak

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/ˈaʊtbrˌeɪk/ Listen

noun

outbreak n.

A bursting forth; eruption; insurrection; mutiny; revolt. "Mobs and outbreaks." "The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind."

A sudden beginning of a violent event; as, the outbreak of hostilities between ethnic groups.

A sudden occurrence or manifestation; usually of disease or emotion, in one person or a group; as, an outbreak of measles among the students; he had an outbreak of shingles; an outbreak of nervousness in the mob.

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Etymology of 'Outbreak'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Outbreak" Quotes from Famous Books

... century which was but one of many results of a general excitement and enlightening of the human mind, of which the great aim and achievements of what, as Christian art, is often falsely opposed to the Renaissance, were another result. This outbreak of the human spirit may be traced far into the middle age itself, with its qualities already clearly pronounced, the care for physical beauty, the worship of the body, the breaking down of those limits which the religious system of the middle age imposed ...

— The Renaissance - Studies in Art and Poetry • Walter Pater

... beginning of February, 1884, business took me to Zululand; it had to do with a deal in cattle and blankets. As I was returning towards the Tugela who should I meet but friend Goza, he who had escorted me from the Black Kloof to Ulundi before the outbreak of war, and who afterwards escorted me and that unutterable nuisance, Kaatje, out of the country. At first I thought that we came together by accident, or perhaps that he had journeyed a little ...

— Finished • H. Rider Haggard

... Pen's outbreak had evidently spent her last drop of reserve force. She submitted meekly to guidance through a long room with low-set windows. She noted a tiled floor with soft rugs, a fireplace and a certain pervading home-sense before they turned into a little ...

— Penny of Top Hill Trail • Belle Kanaris Maniates

... Reist," he said, quietly, "is a friend of yours. Perhaps it is better that I should go. I regret very much to have been the passive cause of such an outbreak. Miss Van Decht, you will accept ...

— The Traitors • E. Phillips (Edward Phillips) Oppenheim

... doctor, it seemed on the following morning that John Fletcher's case was but the beginning of a long and startling outbreak of ...

— A Son of the City - A Story of Boy Life • Herman Gastrell Seely

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