outbreak

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
14
Words With Friends
16
Letters
8
Pronunciation
/ˈaʊtbɹeɪk/

Definition of outbreak

5 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. An eruption; the sudden appearance of a rash, disease, etc.
    “Any epidemic outbreak causes understandable panic.”
See all 5 definitions

noun

  1. An eruption; the sudden appearance of a rash, disease, etc.
    “Any epidemic outbreak causes understandable panic.”
  2. A sudden increase.
    “There has been an outbreak of vandalism at the school.”
    “One such investigation described how kindness can be contagious. It was sparked by reports of an outbreak of kindness on a cold December morning in 2012.”
  3. (figuratively)An outburst or sudden eruption, especially of violence and mischief.
    “There has been an outbreak of broken windows in the street.”
  4. Synonym of breakout (“escape from prison”).

verb

  1. (intransitive)To burst out or break forth.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

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…

See full etymology

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”).

Anagrams of outbreak

3 plays · some not in Scrabble

Best play breakout 14 points

Words you can make from outbreak

193 playable · top: BREAKOUT (14 pts)

Best play breakout 14 points

7-letter words

2 words

6-letter words

6 words

5-letter words

35 words

4-letter words

66 words

3-letter words

65 words

2-letter words

18 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

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