inflation
part of speech
noun (inflation — uncountable)
meaning for a pupil
1) A rise in prices over time, so the same money buys less. tree →
2) Filling something with air or gas so it gets bigger, like a balloon or a tyre. tree →
3) Making something seem bigger or more important than it is (an inflation of the truth). tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life and the news, inflation means prices going up: a bag of sweets costs more than it did. In maths lessons it shows up as percentages: inflation of 3% means 100 dollars of goods now costs 103. In science and PE, inflation is pumping air into balls and tyres. Phrases: high inflation, low inflation, the rate of inflation, keep up with inflation.
examples
- Because of inflation, a loaf of bread costs more than it used to. tree →
- Gran says her pocket money bought much more before inflation. tree →
- The rate of inflation is 2 percent this year. tree →
- Check the inflation of the bike tyres before you ride. tree →
- The inflation of the bouncy castle took five minutes. tree →
- Wages that do not keep up with inflation buy less each year. tree →
- If inflation is 10%, something that cost 50 pounds now costs 55 pounds. tree →
note
Uncountable: say "inflation", not "an inflation" or "inflations". Verb: inflate; adjective: inflatable (an inflatable boat). Opposite in prices: deflation (prices falling). For numbers: inflation of x% means multiply the old price by (100 + x)/100. Inflation does not mean everything doubles; it is usually a small percentage each year.
In the corpora
- Inflation means prices rise over time, so the same pound buys less; if pay rises more slowly, families are worse off.
- Prices go up slowly over the years; this is called inflation, which is why grown-ups remember cheaper prices.
- Inflation means prices in general going up over time, so the same pound buys a little less each year.
- Inflation is prices going up over time; the inflation rate is how much they rise in a year, as a percentage.
- Prices rising over the years is called inflation; £1 is 100p, which is 10 times 10p.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «inflation» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.