outbreak
part of speech
noun (an outbreak, outbreaks)
meaning for a pupil
1) An outbreak is the sudden start of something bad, such as a disease, a war or violence. tree →
2) An outbreak of a disease is when many people suddenly catch it in one place. tree →
sense in the lessons
In health and science lessons it is used about illnesses spreading (an outbreak of flu, of chickenpox, of food poisoning). In history it marks the start of a war. In safety it tells you to wash hands and stay home when sick. Phrases: «the outbreak of war», «an outbreak of measles», «a fire outbreak».
examples
- There was an outbreak of chickenpox at school. tree →
- Wash your hands to stop an outbreak spreading. tree →
- The outbreak of war changed the family's life. tree →
- An outbreak of food poisoning closed the café. tree →
- Doctors worked hard during the outbreak. tree →
- The weather forecast warned of an outbreak of thunderstorms. tree →
- Head lice outbreaks are common in schools. tree →
- Many people stayed home during the flu outbreak. tree →
note
Countable: outbreaks. Stress on OUT-. Phrasal verb «break out» (war broke out) is the related verb. In maths problems about outbreaks, numbers often grow fast, like doubling.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «outbreak» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.