outbreaks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of outbreak.

   Health officials tracked multiple outbreaks of cholera following the floods.

   Historians have linked the famine to repeated outbreaks of civil unrest in the provinces.

   Note

   Each item counted is a separate sudden eruption: outbreaks of cholera, of a rash, of unrest. The noun usually takes of to name what erupted, and its figurative use leans toward violence and mischief. It can also mean escapes from prison, as a synonym of breakout, so context decides whether outbreaks spread or flee. The identical spelling also serves the present-tense verb.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of outbreak.

   Note

   The verb behind this form means to burst out or break forth, and it is intransitive. It takes no object: a quarrel outbreaks, but it never outbreaks something. Everyday English usually says the same thing with the phrasal verb break out, as when fighting breaks out or a rash breaks out. The noun's sense of sudden eruption simply carries over into verb form.

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