spate
n. countablen. a sudden, large amount of something, especially something bad like complaints or accidents. It is often used to describe a period of time when many similar things happen at once.
n. a sudden, large, and often unwelcome number of similar things. Frequently used in the context of negative events, complaints, or legal actions.
The company faced a spate of bad reviews after the new update.
The local hospital was overwhelmed by a sudden spate of flu cases during the first week of winter.
The politician's career was effectively ended by a spate of leaked emails that revealed a pattern of unethical behavior previously hidden from the public eye.
The noun is derived from Middle English spate, spait (“a flood”), influenced by Scots spate (“torrent of water, flood; heavy downpour of rain; (figurative) bout of drinking; large crowd of people; flood of events, words, etc.”). The further etymology of the Middle English and Scots words is uncertain; they are possibly related to English spatter and Dutch spatten (“to spatter, splash”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European sp(y)ēw-, spyū- (whence English spit (“to evacuate (saliva or another substance) from the mouth, etc.”)), which is imitative of spitting. The verb is derived from the noun, probably influenced by Scots spate (“to flood, swell; to rain heavily; (figurative) to scold fiercely”).