inflation
noun
Simple meaning
An act, instance of, or state of expansion or increase in size.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnflayshuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnfˈleɪʃən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An act, instance of, or state of expansion or increase in size, especially by injection of a gas or liquid.
economics
An increase in the quantity of money, leading to a devaluation of existing money, adjusted for by way of higher nominal values.
cosmology
A brief exponential expansion of the universe (faster than the speed of light) postulated to have occurred shortly after the big bang
cosmology
An extremely rapid expansion of the universe, theorized to have occurred very shortly after the Big Bang.
Undue expansion or increase, as of academic grades.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (cosmology) a brief exponential expansion of the universe (faster than the speed of light) postulated to have occurred shortly after the big bang
Used this way, inflation is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use inflation
- “In inflation everything gets more valuable except money.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
A power to affect persons or events especially power based on prestige etc.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Therapy in which water or oxygen or a drug is introduced into the respiratory tract with inhaled air.
The rate of change of prices (as indicated by a price index) calculated on a monthly or annual basis.
Inflation caused by an increase in the costs of production.
Inflation caused by an increase in demand or in the supply of money.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Associated with or tending to cause increases in inflation.
An episode of inflation in which prices and wages increase at an increasing rate and currency rapidly loses value.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: act or instance of
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.