outbreak
n. countablen. the sudden start of something bad, like a disease or a war. It describes a situation where something dangerous spreads quickly among many people.
n. a sudden or spontaneous occurrence of a disease, social unrest, or violence. Often implies a rapid spread within a specific geographic area or population.
The hospital is preparing for a sudden outbreak of the flu.
Health officials worked quickly to contain the outbreak before it could spread to neighboring cities.
Historians often debate whether the sudden outbreak of hostilities was an inevitable result of long-standing tensions or a consequence of a single diplomatic failure.
From Middle English outbreken, oute-breken, from Old English ūtābrecan (“to break out”), equivalent to out- + break. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uutbreeke (“to break out, burst out”), West Frisian útbrekke (“to break out”), Dutch uitbreken (“to break out, burst out”), German ausbrechen (“to break out, erupt”). The noun is cognate with Saterland Frisian Uutbreek (“outbreak”), West Frisian útbrek (“outbreak”), Dutch uitbraak (“outbreak”), and German Ausbruch (“outbreak”), and is comparable to Danish udbrud (“outbreak”), Faroese and Icelandic útbrot (“rash”), Norwegian utbrudd (“outbreak”), and Swedish utbrott (“outbreak”).
Commonly followed by the preposition 'of' to specify the nature of the event.