VocabauraVOCABAURA

spate

noun

Simple meaning

A sudden rush or increase.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

spayt
US recording
IPA pronunciation (US)

speɪt

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. by extension

    A sudden rush or increase.

  2. A river flood; an overflow or inundation.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A sudden rush or increase.

Used this way, spate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Sudden and forceful
Usage feel
Blunt and forceful

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “spate”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

recent spatefull spatenew spatecurrent spatewhole spatesudden spategreat spatefirst spate

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • spatialadjectiveDerived adjective

    Related to A sudden rush or increase.

  • spatiallyadverbDerived adverb

    With regard to space.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: sudden rush or increase

surge

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “spate” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API (CC BY-SA 3.0). Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.